Heroic Survival
by Nevermore-x
Summary: Freshman Year is already nerve-wrecking as it is in a normal high school. But freshman year in a super hero school and you have got yourself a completely different story. With unusual classes, bullies, loads of teenage angst, and a plan to destroy Sky High altogether, it looks like things are a lot more complicated than simply 'saving the day'. Lash/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with Sky High and its affiliates (lol I feel official). But seriously, I don't own anything but Lexi Storm and her parents.  
**

Chapter 1:

My white Converse beat rhythmically on the pavement as I walked down the sidewalk. I kept one hand wrapped around the strap of my backpack and the other had its thumb hooked into the pocket of my blue skinny jeans. My eyes were trained on the long line of pristine houses lining the cookie cutter suburban street here in our city of Maxville. Though I shouldn't be generalizing things too much, considering my house is right down this exact street. But what can I say, my parents, the lovely Mr. Daniel and Mrs. Sandra Storm, wanted me to grow up in a normal environment considering not much is left to imagination by their double jobs as super—

Wait.

I am getting a bit ahead of myself. Let me backtrack a bit.

My name is Lexi Storm, or Alexandra Storm, but it seems too formal for my liking. My parents, said above, are the resident physicist and biochemist around these parts in Maxville, by day at least. When trouble calls, they turn into Elemental and Invisible Woman, whose names are self-explanatory. Now having two supers as parents is a legitimately awesome thing to have. Believe me, I understand that. Especially now, starting my freshmen year at Sky High with the power to control and produce electricity and the power to create force fields. The former from my father and the latter from my mother, as genetics would later explain. However, I can't say the same for my friend Will Stronghold. He, on the other hand, is still in the workings of his powers.

And funny thing I mentioned Stronghold…

I comb my straight hanging black hair away from my face, my single streak of blue flashing in the corner of my eye, as I trotted up the front porch steps to the immaculate house of the Strongholds. I stood on my tip-toes, fishing the house key off the top of the door and happily let myself into the house. As I was walking down the hall, a loud thump resounded from upstairs. I curiously peered up, knowing what will was doing. And with a shake of my head, I let the smell of frying bacon lead me to the kitchen, where I found Mrs. Stronghold and my other red-headed best friend, Layla, looking as ever green-child as ever.

"Morning!" I chimed brightly.

"Hey, Lexi! Wait, how did you get in?" Mrs. Stronghold asked curiously from her post by the frying pan.

I waved the key around before setting it down on the counter with a cheeky grin. "You guys should find a better hiding spot." I counted this as the third time the Strongholds would need to find a new hiding spot for their spare key. I suppose, I had been around so many times that I know a lot of the nooks and crannies of this place. Guess I should thank Will and Layla for that one

Layla giggled as we shared a quick hug before I plopped down beside her at the breakfast table. I saw Mrs. Stronghold pick up the key and rolling her eyes at my antics before saying, "Right, Lexi. Would you like some breakfast?"

"Sure!" I said, happily picking up a slice of bacon from a plate and taking hearty bite out of it. Usually, I would have had breakfast at home, but mom and dad were called away on early business.

Out of the corner of my eye, Layla grimaced and shook her head.

"What?"

"I wonder how I can be best friends with you and Will."

I feigned an offended gasp. "Coming from the girl who tried to turn me into a vegan when we were twelve!"

Layla's grimace instantly dropped and she rolled her eyes, nudging me in the elbow while she laughed. She eventually, and much to her own horror, let me finish my slice of bacon but took it upon herself to excitedly discuss her excitement over finally being able to attend Sky High.

"I mean, now people won't look at me weird when I make teachers' dead plants come back to life!" Layla noted happily.

"Yeah, and now at least I can use my electricity freely, you know, without being accused of being a witch or something or other." I mumbled, waving my hand around erratically.

Layla gave me an incredulous look from over the rim of her glass of orange juice. "You burned out half of the lights in the school and fried Missy Bottoms' hard drive."

I looked at her innocently. "In my defense, the girl copy and pasted my project. It was one time, get over it!" I exclaimed.

Layla happily left the subject, but was laughing at me nonetheless. I eventually joined her. She knew as well as I that I would never use my powers for something other than the good of others. Layla was similar, always trying to find the good in people. But for me, it was just one of those instances where the said Missy Bottoms deserved it. But no matter, I paid for it by a bit of a tongue-lashing from my mom, but a proud pat on the back from my dad (who was probably to engaged in the science factor of my actions to notice my mom's reproachful look).

Our laughing was suddenly cut short by the entrance of Mr. Stronghold followed by our the last third of our trio. Will waved at us and sat down to eat his breakfast.

"Hello, Commander." Layla said, subtly wiggling her finger at her eye to indicate Mr. Stronghold hadn't put on his glasses yet, otherwise he might be confused for his superhero self when dealing with one of his realtor customers.

"Oh, thank you, Layla." He fished his eyeglasses out of his pocket and slid them on. "Oh, Lexi! How are you? I thought you usually ate breakfast at your place." Mr. Stronghold said, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Oh, Good and I do. But mom and dad had an early job to attend to."

"What was it? Trouble at their labs downtown?" Mrs. Stronghold asked, referring to my parents cover jobs.

I shook my head. "No, something about a giant mechanical worm out destroying the Great Wall of China." I corrected casually.

The Strongholds nodded their heads understandingly, like I had just told them it was raining outside. Hearing what I said wasn't an unnatural occurrence, considering when the Strongholds turned into Commander and Jet Stream, they fought alongside my parents.

I looked up just as they turned on the kitchen television where an international broadcast from China was being shown. I recognized the tight-wearing forms of my parents, the electric blue and silver too hard to miss while they managed to disarm, by means of my dad's power of the natural elements and my mother's containment of the area, and stop the gigantic worm from destroying anymore of the Great Wall.

"Wow. You're parents are awesome." Will said, wistfully.

"Shame they weren't here to see you off, honey." Mrs. Stronghold said, stroking my hair.

"It's alright. They talked to me last night, so I'm set."

"Oh, I remember when Will was in pre-school and he refused to let go of my leg-" Mrs. Stronghold started to reminisce with a glistening tear in her eye…that is until Will interrupted her.

But Layla and I couldn't help ourselves to openly laugh.

I ruffled his brown hair playfully. "Awww. Little Stronghold didn't want to leave his mom's side!"

He rolled his eyes and pushed my hand away.

Suddenly, the ringing of a phone drew everyone's attention from the television. At first, Mrs. Stronghold reached for their normal house phone, expecting it to be an associate from the realtor company. But Mr. Stronghold stopped her.

"No, Josie. It's the other one." He pointed to the bright red phone that was reserved for…well…self-explanatory reasons again.

And within minutes, Mr. and Mrs. Stronghold had booked it down to their inner sanctum, yes, my parents have one at home too, and were zooming off to save the city…again. The broadcast on the television changed to footage of the Commander and Jet Stream fighting a giant robot harassing the city. We watched till the robot was finally defeated and the Commander was lifting its eye up for the whole city to see.

Will smiled half-heartedly at the screen, obviously proud of his parents. But all the more pressure on him. I knew that he felt like he had a lot to live up to and I won't deny that he does. To make matters worse, his powers haven't arrived. Will told me this a few nights go and hasn't had the guts to tell his parents. We could only hope that by some development, his powers arrived today.

Knock on wood.

"Come on, guys. The bus will be here soon, we should get going." I suggested, getting up and slinging my backpack over my shoulder.

Will and Layla agreed and all three of us left the Stronghold residence. We took our route to the bus stop, waving at neighbors as we passed by.

"You know, after seeing your parents. I can't help but feel like I can't wait to graduate already." Layla said with a wishful tone.

"Why? It's barely the first day." Will said.

"Because I can't wait to start saving mankind!" She replied happily.

"And womankind!" I quipped, my feminist side peeking out.

Layla nodded at my addition and made her own. "And animal kind. Can never forget them, especially after watching you and Will eat a poor baby chicken and pig!" She turned an accusatory eye at us.

"It was a slice of bacon, give me a break!" I exclaimed, slapping my forehead. "Beside—Hi, Mrs. Ewing!" We waved to the old lady watering her plants on her porch. "Besides, you can't save just the animals. What about the rainforest?" I asked.

Layla gasped and nodded rapidly. "Good one! That too, of course. I don't know guys, I just feel really great about this year!"

"Me too!" I agreed truthfully.

"Yeah, it should be great." Will added weakly.

I reached out an arm and patted his back in a supportive sort of way. He half-heartedly smiled and gathered us both in for a hug. One that made me laugh and Layla blush at her proximity with Will.

We finally arrived at the bus stop, only having to wait a few minutes till a uniform looking yellow vehicle pulled up to the curb. The door opened and Will trotted up the steps first, followed by myself and Layla.

"Is this the-uhh bus to Sky High?" Will asked blatantly, making the everyone on the bus look at us, well Will, incredulously.

"SHHH! Do you want EVERY villain in this neighborhood to know who we are?" The bus driver shushed us in a stage whisper.

"Sorry." Will mumbled, apologetically.

The bus driver shook his head at us disapprovingly before demanding. "What's your name, freshman?"

Will swallowed nervously and shifted backwards a little bit. "Will…Will Stronghold."

The bus driver's eyes widened like saucers, utterly surprised, which could be said the same of the bus. He quickly shot out of his seat, bumping his head on the ceiling on the way there, and faced the bus.

"EVERYONE! This is WILL STRONGHOLD the son of the Commander and Jet Stream!"

Subtle.

He grabbed Will's violently shaking it and introducing himself in a rather forced official manner. "Ron Wilson- Bus Driver."

I wondered then if this was the treatment Will received, I could only hope mine was a little less…obvious? Of course my hopes were shattered when Mr. Wilson's eyes settled on me, widening more than before.

"You…you're the daughter of Elemental and Invisible Woman!" He gasped, dropping Will's hand and pushing him aside to grab my own. "I am a big…no, HUGE fan! I have a poster of your mom at home." He slipped to me.

I laughed nervously, pulling my hand away from his and backing into Layla, who was equally freaked out. "Hehe, that's not weird at all…"

But Ron Wilson was unaware of how awkward things were and turned to the two kids in the front row. A black kid in an orange get up and girl, who thoroughly enjoyed rocking the punk rocker chick look, what with her multicolored hair and purple and black clothing.

"You two, up. Will Stronghold and Lexi Storm get the seats up front." He said, freaking me out just a tiny bit more since I never even told him my name.

Mr. Orange Suit shot up immediately, gladly giving up his seat. "It would be an honor. I'm Ethan, by the way."

I smiled politely at him, thinking him sweet. The girl on the other hand glanced at us moodily, obviously not wanting to give up her seat.

"Hurry up, Magenta." Ethan urged.

The girl rolled her eyes. "I'm coming. Giving up my seat for Stronghold and his girlfriend." She grumbled.

I quickly shook my head at that title and pointed to Layla. "Oh no, that's Layla."

That earned me a hard sock in the back from my blushing friend, making me yelp. I gave her pointed look which she returned with a scowl before explaining that she wasn't Will's girlfriend. But I knew otherwise. Either those two get together soon, or I am going to lock them in a closet till they kiss. I've been friends with them too long to know that they really do belong together. If only Will realized it…

I let Layla and Will take the seats up front, where Layla was hit on by a curly-haired nerd, Larry, after their claims of not dating. I moved to the back of the bus and sat down in the empty spot next to Magenta, hoping she wasn't still grumpy about Mr. Wilson taking her seat. But it was either next to her or beside a guy with bright white hair and donning neon yellow apparel who was trying to tell the person in front of him about his powers, whatever they happened to be.

"I'm Lexi." I said to her, feeling rather stupid to repeating it since Ron Wilson proclaimed it already.

"I know." She said flatly as Mr. Wilson started to maneuver the bus on the route to school. She knew I already knew her name so, unlike me she didn't need to repeat it.

A few minutes later, Magenta spoke again, her flatness diminishing. "I like your sweater."

I looked down at my white jumper with the bright blue lettering, 'KEEP CALM AND BE TOTALLY AWESOME' and smiled. "Thanks."

She cracked the tiniest of smiles and I had the slightest inkling that we were cool. Unfortunately, there was no room for anymore conversation as the bus suddenly stopped at the beginning of an incomplete highway.

Magenta and I shared a curious look as Ron Wilson suddenly tore at his shirt sleeve to expose the Sky High badge underneath.

"Next stop—Sky High!"

He pulled on a lever and seatbelts flew out of our seats and crossed over our chests, thoroughly strapping us tightly in. But my question was why did we need them?

It was then the bus shot forward, speeding towards the end of the highway which was complete and free air. I looked frantically at Magenta then at Layla and Will who looked just as terrified as I did, thinking they would be the last thing I'd see before I plunged to my death.

And just as that thought hit me, the caution sign dropped and the bus drove off the edge.

The bus erupted in screams of terror, myself being a part of those screams, as the bus felt like I was dropping. But much to our dismay, the bus suddenly sprouted wings and started to fly higher up into the air.

"Pfft. Freshmen." Ron commented from the front of the bus.

It was then my screaming started to die down as I realized that I actually wasn't plunging to my death. Eventually all the screaming subsided save for the few people who still weren't wrapping their minds around the fact that we were flying.

Within a few minutes, through the thick cloud coverage, emerged the gargantuan, floating building of Sky High. Ron was busy telling us about the school's general tendency to move places if dangerous measures are at hand and something about 'anti-gravitational propulsion', but it seemed like everyone was far to enthralled by the view of the school to care, myself included. Magenta and I looked out the window, witnessing to the grounds of the school being stocked with students of all shapes, colors and sizes, seeming completely normal…if you do ignore the floating part of the school that is.

As we drew closer to the school, the bus shook and jolted with Ron Wilson's rough landing.

"Sorry, 'bout that!" Ron Wilson called, coughing awkwardly to hide his lack of a smooth landing.

The other students rushed off the bus, some of them kissing the solid ground and thanking God they were alive. I thanked Ron for the ride and hopped on outside with Magenta following, wanting to take in the school firsthand.

"Wow, look at this place." Layla breathed, looking around her.

I could only nod in agreement. Behind me, I could still hear Ron upping his bus driver duties.

"Don't ever be late. Because the bus waits for no one." He said, his voice taking on a lower, intimidating tone. But that was instantly dropped when he shouted again. "Except for you two! Stronghold and Storm! The bus is always here for you!"

Thankfully I was already off the vehicle when that was shouted, but I couldn't say the same for Will. Will was the last one off the bus, holding the business card of 'Ron Wilson—Bus Driver' who offered free rides to Will and me if we were ever late to school. I shrugged at the offer, hoping to never have to use that, but Will safely tucked it away in his wallet.

We started walking up the pathway to the steps of the school, alongside our fellow freshmen. We moved in a general sized clump, watching the workings of our home outside of home for the next four years. From up in the sky the school seemed partly normal, but now that I am up close, it's anything but. There were boys with heat vision using it to indirectly touch a girls butt, and the girl in turn froze them on the spot. The cheerleading team was very…uniform to say the least…that was until I realized there was only one girl on the team and the rest were her clones.

Wow.

I was jolted out of my thoughts as my hair started to whip around my face. The clump of freshmen was suddenly getting tighter and we were all knocking into each other. It was then I noticed a swiftly moving blur circling around us…roping us in.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Sky High.**

Chapter 2:

Suddenly the blur skidded to a stop, giving the now frazzled freshmen to the view of a rather chubby guy, possibly a senior, in a black and white track jacket with a flipped baseball hat. He looked over our squished group, smirking proudly.

"Hey, freshmen!" He called out. "Your attention please!"

Behind him, another guy loped in, rather stretched I should say seeing as his power was elasticity, and came to stop beside his friend. He was taller than the other, his leaner body making up for his lack of fat. He had long brown hair, swooped off to the side. He stretched his body around, adjusting his black and white striped sweater and bright orange t-shirt. Decent and good looking to say the least.

"I'm Lash and this is Speed." He introduced, lightly tapping his chubby friend, Speed, which is ironic by the way, on the shoulder.

"And on behalf of the student welcoming committee, we would be happy to collect that fifteen dollar student fee now." Speed articulated his words very quickly, perhaps trying to fool us.

But even Layla, Will and I could tell these guys were not part of any such committee. If said committee even exists. Besides, why on earth would I want to give them my fifteen dollars?

Nonetheless, they must have thought us rather naïve because Lash stretched his arm out to Ethan beside me, flicking it in an expectant manner. But Ethan shied away from his hand and shook his head.

"There was nothing about a fee in the handbook." Ethan said, sounding confused.

I nearly face palmed. But despite that, it didn't look like anyone was offering up their money, save for Larry who had actually fished out his wallet, probably ignoring everything that Ethan just said. I sighed in irritation and reached over to Larry, pushing the hand that held the wallet down to his side while I shook my head.

Lash's eyes flickered to where my hand was, probably focusing on the money he wasn't going to get, and started to travel up the length of my arm till he was looking at my face. The edges of his mouth curled up into a smirk. He leaned over to Speed, whispering something in his ear, but his eyes still trained on me.

I bit back shudder before another senior breezed her way up to us, smiling brightly. She was very…pink. I couldn't find another word. She just seemed quite preppy, seeing as her cardigan was spic and spam and her hair was pressed and brushed to perfection. Heck, even Will noticed her and he hardly notices anything on girls. But unfortunately for Layla, I realized that he was literally drooling over her, completely infatuated.

"Very funny, guys. I'll take it from here." She said, introducing herself and happily sending the Lash and Speed on their way empty-handed. "My name is Gwen Grayson, your student body president…"

Gwen started to move the clump up towards the school. I felt someone tap on my shoulder and I turned around in time to see a striped arm slinking away. Lash stood off to the side with Speed where he sent me a wink and made a pretend phone with his hand, as his 'charming' way of asking for phone call.

Not knowing how else to respond, I cocked an eyebrow and hastily shook my head, but that seemed to encourage his smirk to deepen.

Should I be worried?

"Lexi, come on, let's go!" Layla tugged me away so we could catch up with the group. "What was that all about?" She asked.

I could do nothing else but merely shrug, because I didn't know what to make of it. Layla and I decided to leave it at that, considering that learning about how to not fall off the edge of the school seemed more important. Gwen took us through a few halls, went over general rules, while Will was too busy pining after her to here the one about the edge of the school. Layla and I laughed at him, promising to explain later. We eventually ended up in the gym, where Gwen wished us a good year and left.

"Did she just leave us here?" I asked no one in particular, after awhile.

All of us were looking around aimlessly till a bright glowing orb of light flew over our heads and transformed into the silhouette of a person behind the podium on the stage up front. The silhouette soon developed into a full-fledged woman, wearing a clean white suit and warm welcoming smile.

"Good morning! I am Principal Powers and on behalf of all the faculty and staff, I'd like to welcome you to Sky High—"

"Yeah!" The white-haired, neon yellow wearing boy from the bus suddenly exclaimed, earning a handful of stares and a silencing one from Principal Powers.

"In a few moments," she continued. "You will go through Power Placement and your journey to becoming a hero will begin."

Will leaned over to us. "Power placement?" He questioned.

Layla and I shrugged, stuck in the same boat as he was. You would think Will and I would know, but our parents don't exactly tell us a lot of things.

"It sounds like a fascist regime." I commented thoughtfully.

"Power placement: where they decide where you go." Ethan piped into the conversation.

"Yeah, Heroes or Losers." Magenta added, with false enthusiasm.

"Losers? They actually sort people into that category?" Will worriedly questioned.

"The appropriate term is Hero Support." Ethan corrected, trying to salvage the namesake.

But that didn't seem to settle Will's nerves as he sucked a thick gulp of air. We turned back to the front, returning our attention to Principal Powers as she wrapped up her spiel.

"For now, good deeds and good luck. Let the adventure begin! Comets away!" her body morphed back into a ball of light and quickly flitted out of the room. Advantageous transporting skills right there.

Behind us, there was a rumbling across the floor of the gym and the group turned around just as a platform was rising above the floor, a man wearing shorts that were far too short for our liking and a tight track jacket. In his hand he wielded a mighty…clip board. But he compensated for intimidation by his rotted stance and shady glare from behind a pair of sunglasses.

"Alright, listen up! My name is Coach Boomer, you may know me as 'Sonic Boom'."

I tilted my head slightly as the name rang a vague familiarity in my head.

"Some of you may not. Here's how Power Placement works. You will step up here and show me you power. And yes, you will do so in front of the whole class."

There was a noticeable sag in a number of the freshmen's shoulders. I felt like this was legitimate public humiliation right here. I mean, my parents notified me that some kids don't have necessarily the coolest powers and that I have to treat them the same as others. But making them show it in front of their classmates…well, it wasn't sitting well with me.

"I will then determine where you will be assigned. Hero or sidekick."

"Hero support." Ethan coughed quietly from beside me, but not loud enough for Boomer to hear him as he was still going on with his speech.

"Now every year there are a few students or as I like to call them, 'whiner babies' who think it's ok to question and complain about their placement. So let's get one thing straight. My word is law. My judgment is final. I will not tolerate whiner babies. Are we clear?"

Everyone responded one way or another, mumbling underneath their breath or simply just nodding. I wouldn't be surprised if majority of us were just too intimidated to answer at all. But that didn't sit well with Coach Boomer.

He braced his legs a little more and removed his sunglasses before shouting. "I said…ARE….WE…CLEAR!"

The waves of his voice were loud and thick enough to pickup wind, blowing it straight into our faces. I grabbed onto Layla's arm and she onto Will's to keep ourselves from flying backwards, like one of the unfortunate freshmen ended up doing.

"Yes, Coach Boomer!" Everyone shouted together.

He nodded appreciatively and looked among the crowd to get started. "You." He stated, pointing. "What's your name?"

Sadly, Larry, the boy who hit on Layla and almost lost fifteen dollars to Lash and Speed, was at the end of that point. He gulped nervously shifting back and forth on his feet and refusing to make eye contact with Coach Boomer.

"L-Larry, sir." He stuttered, shaking in his shoes.

"Little Larry." Coach Boomer taunted. "Get up here."

Larry gulped again before gathering up his courage to go up onto the platform. His hands were shaking as he slipped his glasses off and into his pocket.

"Wow, placing us by subject of public humiliation." Layla observed, speaking my thoughts exactly. "This is unfair."

"Wonderful observation on our first day of high school." I muttered.

Unfortunately, since both of us was expecting something short of amazing in Larry's case, we weren't expecting Larry to burst out his checkered cardigan and morphing into some buff rock-shaped giant.

"Car!" Boomer shouted and a rusty old race car dropped from the ceiling. Larry caught it in time, hoisting it up over his shoulders. Coach Boomer seemed pleased. "Big Larry. Hero!"

After him, the over-enthusiastic neon yellow wearing kid, who later announced his name to be Zach, confidently jogged his way onto the platform. Coach Boomer looked at him unconvinced by his outgoing nature.

"Did I say it was your turn?" He asked.

"Name's Zach, Coach. Try to keep a grip on that clipboard of yours." Zach said, rolling his shoulders around and planting himself in a solid position.

Everyone was waiting for something…anything to happen, since we were so curious about what his power was. After all he was rambling on and on about it on the bus.

"Any day now, superstar." Coach Boomer said, beckoning his hand.

"I'm doing it!"

"Doing what exactly?" Coach Boomer asked, wanting some clear elaboration on Zach.

"I'm glowing!" Zach exclaimed.

Honestly, all we saw was a boy in bright clothing. I wasn't sure what else I was supposed to be seeing.

"I don't think so." Coach Boomer shook his head. "Sidekick." He said, starting to scribble it down on the clipboard.

"Wait…wait…it's easier to see in the dark. Maybe if we shut off some lights, and get everyone to cup their hands around their eyes—"

"Sidekick." Coach Boomer repeated.

"Woah, are you sure about that—" Zach started.

"SIDEKICK!" Coach Boomer shouted over Zach's protests…in his Boomer voice, blowing Zach clear off the platform to make room for the next victim…er…student.

Coach Boomer started picking more students to go up on the platform, each of them giving like a variety show of powers. There was an acid-spitter and few interesting shape shifters. Ethan hopped on up there, adjusted his clothes and glasses and….became a puddle of orange goop, earning himself the nickname Popsicle from Coach Boomer. Magenta went up soon after and shape-shifted like others before…into a guinea pig. Boomer was hardly impressed, at least hoping for a swarm of guinea pigs but got nothing out of Magenta's bored tone.

Needless to say where Boomer placed them, but Ethan seemed alright with it and Magenta simply didn't care.

"You, flower child." He pointed to Layla. "Get up here."

Layla curtly shook her head and folded her arms. "I only believe in using my powers if the situation demands it."

Boomer folded his arms in response, accepting her challenge. "Well, here is the situation, and I am demanding it."

"But to take part in this would be giving my support to a flawed system. This whole hero-sidekick sorting—"

Will and I shared a knowing look as the 'debating' Layla came out. She was going to give every legitimate reason as why this was wrong and we knew very well to let her have her moment, lest we suffer being the target of her words.

But no one told Boomer that and frankly, it didn't seem like he cared.

"Are you telling me that you refuse to show me your powers?" Coach Boomer asked.

Layla began to protest but her voice was drowned out underneath Coach Boomer's loud declaration, "Sidekick!"

He turned his eyes on me. "Lightning hair," I glanced at my electric blue streak and mulled the name around in distaste. "Your turn, or do you have something to say like flower child?"

I shook my head. "No, Coach." I said then turned to my friends. "Wish me luck." I whispered through my tightened lips and felt Layla and Will lightly pat my back encouragingly.

I took a deep breath and brought my head up, as I made my way up onto the platform.

"Name, freshmen?" Coach Boomer asked, looking at his clipboard.

"Lexi Storm."

At that, my fellow freshmen discreetly whispered to one another. Coach Boomer had paused midway through writing on the clipboard and turned to me, his eyes narrowing.

"Storm?" Coach Boomer repeated. "Heh, I remember your parents from our high school years." He muttered, with some hint of bitterness. "Always up for the top spot, especially, that nerdy father of yours…"

"Excuse me?" I said, not sure if I heard the last statement right.

"Your powers. Let's go, power up!" He demanded, brushing aside my question.

I shrugged then, believing it to be nothing and pushed up the sleeves of my sweater. I parted my feet a bit before lifting my hand up in front of me. My fingers slowly started to curl up towards my palm and the lights in the gym started to flicker unsteadily. The closer my fingers drew toward my open palm, the more the lights started to fluctuate and sputter out of control. That's when all the lights burst and bolts of blue and white electricity shot towards my hand, circling it. It left the room darkened only illuminated by the light show I created with my hand. My hand tingled slightly as I fisted it, containing the bolts in my palm. Swiftly then, I uncurled my hand, releasing the bolts back into the room, each of them returning to the moderate power level of giving light to the gym.

I looked out at the students, seeing all of them gape at my little light show. Will and Layla gave me a thumbs-up which I thought was appropriate. I had hoped that my demonstration was enough for Coach Boomer. Not that being sorted into hero was all that important to me, but from what I could see, the people sorted into Sidekicks were not on Boomer's good list and I didn't feel like making an enemy of a man whose voice could throw you off the edge of the school.

"Hmph." Coach Boomer made a funny noise that sounded unimpressed. "Electricity. From your dad, Elemental, I assume."

"Yes, sir."

He made another unimpressed sound, before shouting out, "Car!"

I was unprepared and stumbled as I shot my hands up, creating an invisible dome around the platform. I felt the car beat down on the dome and slide off the side to roll onto the ground of the gym. I resisted the urge to demand what the hell drove him to drop a car on me after I already showed him what he asked for….unless he expected more.

Coach Boomer cracked an appreciative smirk and slowly nodded his head, reaching his hand out to knock on my force field. "Two superpowers. At least this one is from your mom." He noted, writing something down on his clipboard.

At that point, there was hope for good results. At least, that's what I thought.

That is until…

"Sidekick."

My eyes widened in surprise and I almost felt the need to contest that. But Coach Boomer was too busy looking at his clipboard to pay me any heed.

Then the damn lunch bell rang.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is remotely Sky High! Just Lexi and her parents:)**

**Thanks for reading!**

Chapter 3:

"That was totally unfair!" Layla exclaimed for about the third time after we left the gym.

Believe me, I was on my way to thinking the exact same thing. But the meeker part of me was telling me to just suck up my pride and dignity and accept the title.

"Layla is right, Lexi." Will told me, when we arrived at the cafeteria. "You gave an epic demonstration, you obviously deserve to be a hero!"

We fell in line and purchased our lunches. Then came the ever so complicated challenge of finding an empty lunch table in this place. The three of us, including our new found acquaintances of Ethan, Zach and Magenta, eventually found a table near the windows of the cafeteria. We all plopped down with our lunches, Layla magically finding herself beside Will. But their relationship status was the last thing anyone was paying attention to.

"Will's got that right." Zach piped up, excitedly. "You and me, Lexi. Team up and get Boomer to fix our placements, whad'ya say?" he asked, holding his fist up for me to bump.

The whole of the table gave him a funny look, mostly because we all thought he was placed correctly. I laughed and shook my head as I pushed his fist down.

"No, but seriously. You should talk to Principal Powers or something." Will said, grasping his seriousness after laughing along with me.

"Yeah and what was with Boomer and constantly referring to your parents, though?" Magenta asked.

I shrugged, taking a sip from my water bottle. "I don't know. I mean, I figure they all went to high school together but that's as far as I know." But aside from my answer, I was still going to ask my parents about Boomer when I got home tonight, that is if they are back from China.

"You think it has something to do with your placement?" Ethan asked.

"Hope not." I said, picking at the fries on my plate. "But what does it matter, I mean, at least I have classes with all of you now." I smiled at my friends and they did so back, including Magenta. I figured that if this sort of downer put me in sidekick class, might as well enjoy it with my friends…well, almost all of them. Will had yet to be sorted, but by the look on his face: sidekick was the last place he needed to be.

"I personally think you are going to be wasting your potential in Hero Support…not that there's anything wrong with being in it." Layla said.

I shrugged again and ate a French fry off my plate. "Just accepting the things I cannot change." I replied simply, recalling to mind Boomer's whole spiel about 'his judgment being final'. Because I wasn't too fond on discovering what happens if his judgment wasn't final.

Magenta rolled her eyes and started to reach for her unopened bottle of soda. But there was an already familiar flash of a fast moving blob around the table and Magenta grabbed at air instead of her bottle.

"Hey!" She exclaimed.

Speed, the known offender, skidded to a stop at the head of the table, smirking and taking a sip out of Magenta's stolen soda. Magenta glared at him, while the rest of us sagged at the unwanted attention. But I was aware that Speed wasn't alone. I had the right notion to think that the two always stuck together. For if you got Speed, then you have…

"Well, hello there Freshmen."

Lash.

A pair of black and white striped arms snaked in from behind to rest on either side of my seated self, effectively caging me in. I felt Lash's looming presence on my back, his body heat making me scoot further onto the edge of my seat. I won't deny that he makes me a little nervous, especially after this morning's exchange, whatever that was.

"So, let's see what we have here, Speed." Lash said and started on down the line, extending one of his arms to roughly pat each of my friends on the head, earning mixed responses from them. "Sidekick, sidekick, sidekick, Loser…"

Lash trailed off as he came around to me. "And you…" He quickly shoved Ethan out of the seat beside me and sat down, casually sitting backwards so he was facing me.

"Aren't you a little too pretty to be a sidekick?" Lash commented, eyeing me up and down, laughing as he read the saying on my sweater.

I sighed and dropped the French fry I was fiddling with onto my plate before turning to send an indifferent look at Lash.

"Aren't you a little too immature and moronic to be a hero, let alone a senior here?" I countered.

Will snorted loudly earning a slap on the back from Layla, who was still enforcing her motto of being nice to everyone, but was giggling nonetheless. Ethan, Magenta and Zach were attempting mask their laughing behind their hands.

"Ouch." Speed commented, still sipping from Magenta's soda.

"That hurt." Lash gasped, placing a hand over his heart, feigning a hurt expression. "But feisty. Kind of hot." He said, nodding his head appreciatively. "I like that."

I grimaced at the comment, my stomach doing an odd twist. "I am not going to thank you for that comment." I flatly stated.

Lash smirked and stood up. He stretched his elastic limbs before flicking his skater boy hair out of his eyes and leaning over the table, resting his weight on one of his arms and his head level with mine.

"No need, Storm. I'll be seeing you." He promised, a smirk prominent in his voice. I shuddered when I realized he knew my name…then again, who didn't…Storm was just as famous as Stronghold.

Next thing I knew, Lash pulled away and ended up beside his partner in crime, in his hands a plate of food that was obviously not his in the first place. I wonder where he…

"Let's go, Speed. Let's give that Larry kid a freshmen swirly." Lash said, sounding as if he were talking business and started to turn away. But he stopped short and turned back around, wearing a stupid cheeky grin. "Oh—Thanks for lunch by the way."

I looked down at the table finding it completely bare where my lunch should have been. My head shot up and I suppressed the urge to demand my lunch back from the laughing pair of goons seeing as they were already long gone by the time I looked back up. Instead, I opted for a frustrated groan and dropped my fist on the table, small bolts of electricity emitting from my hands to rattle everyone's lunch trays.

"Lexi!" Layla exclaimed.

"Sorry." I muttered.

"Well, whatever that was, I think we just made it on Lash and Speed's 'Freshmen Hit List'." Magenta said, regretfully, while she dug around her pockets for a dollar to buy a new soda.

"I think Lexi might have made a different list, if you know what I mean." Zach said, nudging Magenta and Ethan, who had eventually picked himself up off the floor.

Layla and I shared a distasteful look, while Magenta simply rolled her eyes. Ethan, on the other hand, was not on same page.

"I don't get it, what list?" Ethan asked, innocently.

No one answered him but returned to eating their lunches…except for me of course. Magenta was kind enough to push her plate my way and share her fries with me. I ended up finding an extra dollar and sliding it towards her, with which she happily replenished her kidnapped soda.

"Am I going senile, or is that guy really staring at me?" Will suddenly asked in a hushed voice, chancing short glances over his shoulder.

We peered around him to see who exactly he was referring to and to be completely honest, I was a bit frightened. Behind him, a leather-clad, muscular fellow sat brooding like death was around the corner. His black hair hung loosely around his intimidating face, a bright red streak increasing his scare factor. Will tensed up again, hunching his shoulders, like he were trying to pull a protective shell around him that turn him invisible from the guy's eyes.

"Dude, I know who that is." Zach said, while we all slowly sank back down in our seats.

We all looked up at him expectantly. Clearly, Will wasn't the only one who didn't know Mr. Brooding over there.

"That's Warren Peace." He told us, his voice sounding like a strained whisper.

That name sure rang a bell in my head, as well as in everyone else's, aside from Will of course. My parents told me about him and his parents, but never did a face come with the story…till now at least.

"That's Warren Peace?" Layla asked, turning around once more to get a good look at the guy.

Zach nodded his head to confirm it.

"I've heard of him, his mom is hero and his dad is a super villain. Baron Battle." Layla explained to Will, who looked confused as ever.

"And I come in where?" he asked.

I leaned into the conversation. "Your dad arrested his dad."

"Quadruple life sentence." Ethan interjected.

"No parole till after his third life." I added for extra measure.

"That's great." He grumbled sarcastically. Will started to hunch and curl up again, so much I thought he was going to become an armadillo.

"I know, we may have ended up on the hit list for Lash and Speed, but you already made yourself an archenemy and you haven't even met the guy yet." I told Will, reaching over to cuff his shoulder.

He looked up and scowled at me. "You aren't helping."

"Sorry."

Will shook his head and attempted to finish his lunch.

"Is he still looking?"

Layla and I peered around him. "Nope."

Will discreetly turned around to look and make sure. And sure enough, Warren Peace was still looking. "Guys, I thought you said he wasn't looking?"

"Well, he wasn't." I said, shrugging.

Will looked slightly relieved. "He wasn't?"

"Nope, it's more like he was glaring at you." I said smartly.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High! There I said it! :(**

**Thanks for all the reads, favorites, and reviews!**

Chapter 4:

It was late in afternoon when I came walking through the backdoor of my still empty house. Unfortunately, the end of our first day wasn't any less eventful than how it started. After lunch, we were forced to return to the 'Sky High Variety Show', but not before Will made a bumbling idiot of himself in front of Gwen Grayson. When we eventually got to the gym, Will revealed that he had no clue what his power(s) was (are). Coach Boomer thought he was joking, sounding like he actually liked the Strongholds for that, and thought shooting him in the air or dropping a car on him was going to weed out his power. Neither worked, if you were wondering, evidently putting Will as a Sidekick...and in Nurse Spex office for awhile. That subjected us to a depressed Will the rest of the day. It's understandable, now that he has to tell his parents, excuse me, SUPERHERO parents that he is a sidekick.

Oh.

Wait, I have to do that too.

I inwardly groaned as I remember that I am still in the same boat as Will. Though, I think his dad just might blow a fuse whereas I am hoping my parents will be as level-headed as they usually are. I am sure they'll be disappointed but my parents don't dwell too much on things like this…usually. I mean, they did say the night before that 'no matter where I was placed, they knew I would be successful'.

But that's what they all say.

My thoughts were put on hold as I heard the faint ringtone of my cell phone playing from the pocket of my jeans. I kick the backdoor shut with my heel and toss my backpack on the kitchen counter before fishing my phone out of my jeans.

"Hello?" I said, answering the call, almost immediately cringing and pulling the phone far away from my ear as a variety of loud, raucous cheering poured from the ear piece.

I am guessing that my parents are still in China.

"Lexi? Honey, it's mom and your dad is here too!" My mom shouted above the noise.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" I asked.

"Are you back from school yet? How was your first day?" She said.

"It was…" I mulled around for the right word. "Eventful."

Understatement.

"That's good!" She obviously couldn't read further into my words, as she sounded too preoccupied to do so. I was sure that at this moment she was currently waving to millions of Chinese people while she juggled a conversation with me.

"Did you like Sky High? Was it everything you thought it would be?" She asked, with a hopeful tinge in her voice. Ever since I could fully understand things, my parents told me long stories of their days in Sky High, trying to paint me the ideal picture of the institution that harnessed their powers and eventually brought them together.

"Uh, sure it was." I sighed, recalling to mind the long list of unexpected things that had occurred.

"Oh, I just knew you would love it, sweetheart!" My dad's voice chimed in.

There was some shuffling on the other end and I think my mom ended up handing the phone over to my dad. I could tell he was drawing away from the cheering crowds as they became fainter and his voice became clearer.

"You know, I remember my first day at Sky High and my power placement—Oh! That reminds me! How was Power Placement for you?" He asked, eager to hear about it.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, there was the question. I could only wonder how Will was dealing with it right now…or not. The guy spent half of his developing years pretending that he had powers, it wouldn't faze me now to think he was still fooling his parents for just a little while longer.

I sighed and combed my free hand through my hair, putting my thoughts in order. "Power placement was…just…interesting?" I said slowly.

_I gave an epic demonstration, had a car dropped on me, and now I am sidekick._

"Interesting, huh? Did you do that electricity containment thing?" My dad asked.

"Sure, did."

"Then I am sure you knocked their socks clean right off. I'm pretty sure you impressed Coach Boomer, didn't you?" His voice had this sort of smugness to it at the mention of Coach Boomer. Now, I was getting slightly more curious about that…

"Well, I wouldn't necessarily say impressed—" I stammered, remembering that Coach was anything but.

"Oh, no matter. You shouldn't think too much on your placement." I relaxed at the sound of that, and prepared myself to break the news, but my dad hadn't quite finished yet. "Because, you need to focus on your new hero classes, now!"

Damn.

"Dad, about hero classes—"

"Daniel, the Chinese president is here!" Mom shouted from the background, drowning out the beginning of my last chanced explanation.

"Sorry, Lexi. You can finish telling us the whole thing when we get home. Duty calls." My dad hastily apologized. I heard him start jogging back to wherever my mom was. "Your mom and I will be home late tonight. Go ahead and call in for dinner, alright?"

"Ok, dad, I will." I sighed.

"Daniel!" Mom shouted again. "Tell Lexi we will see her later!"

"Gotta go! We'll see you later! Love you, sweetheart!" He had to start yelling into the phone as he was back in the vicinity of the crowds, their cheering severely overpowering their voices.

"Love you too." I weakly replied as the call was cut off early.

This was just great.

I ran another hand into my hair, sighing heavily as my thoughts were becoming jumbled again. I didn't want to prolong this set of news, but I guess when your parents are on the other side of the world, being a sidekick would have to wait just a little bit.

"What am I to do?" I asked myself.

My stomach answered with a loud grumble. I frowned and looked down at my flat tummy, patting it with my hand.

"Fine. I'll feed you first."

With that being said, I grabbed the phone book and called up the 'Paper Lantern' to order myself some take-out, which is funny since I was having it delivered. The call was quick and the food was to arrive in about twenty minutes. In the meantime, I trotted upstairs with my practically empty backpack, seeing as we don't start our actual classes till tomorrow, to leave it in my room and grabbed some money from my wallet.

Finally, the door bell rang earlier than the given time and I went back downstairs, swinging the door open without hesitation because, one, I knew it was the delivery boy, and two, because I was too hungry to think that it was anyone else other than the delivery boy.

However, I feel like I should have looked first, considering I didn't expect to find Warren Peace standing at my doorstep in a delivery boy outfit and holding my dinner.

"Er…hi." I spoke first, drawing his eyes way from the paint job on my house.

His eyes narrowed when he met my gaze and his lips pursed, obviously unhappy to be in this position. His hand tightened a significant amount around my dinner, a faint red glow starting to sizzle the plastic bag. Unfortunately, I had learned today that he was flame-thrower…also an impulsive one.

Wonderful.

"How much?" I suddenly said, not wanting my dinner to burn.

"What?"

"For the food. How much do I owe you?" I asked.

His grip loosened and his skin lost the red glow as he relaxed a bit and grumbled, "Oh, right. $25.60."

I ended up giving him thirty dollars and traded it for my food. He dug into his pocket where he kept the money from deliveries and counted my change out, while I patiently waited by the door.

"We…go to school together." I stated, thinking of trying my hand at decent, civil conversation with him.

"Nice observation." He replied, not losing his focus on counting the change.

"You're Warren Peace, right?" I asked, though it was completely rhetorical. He and I both knew that, but what else was I going to say.

"Sure am." He answered flatly. "And you're Lexi Storm." Warren didn't sound like he had anything against my surname, like he did for the Strongholds.

"Seems about right."

"Friends with Will Stronghold, too, aren't you." He affirmed more than questioned, peering up at me through an inquisitive glance.

"You don't like him." I observed, leaning on my front door.

"That goes without saying." He replied simply, handing me my change and readying himself to leave.

"So I can assume you don't like me either, huh?" I said. He raised an eyebrow and gave me a questioning look, but didn't voice a reply.

"Dislike by association." I clarified with him.

His head nodded slowly in understanding, before he merely shrugged, but I caught the corner of his lip twitching to smile. "Maybe."

I nodded my head before repeating, "Maybe." I sighed and stuck my hand out to him. He stared at it confusedly while I continued. "See you around, Warren Peace."

Warren's tense expression faltered at my words and he hesitantly reached out to shake my hand. "See you around." He said, sounding slightly unsure of himself, and finally backed away from my patio.

After his delivery car drove away, I shut the front door and shuffled my way to the living room, where I went through a take-out container of shrimp fried rice and the first few chapters of 'Jane Eyre'. A while later, my parents were still on their way back from China after possibly having to stick around to receive a number of awards from the Chinese government and an empty house was starting to become a little unsettling for me. It was then, it seemed like a good idea to take a walk down the street, knowing that either Layla or Will were out. But my best bet was on Will, especially after a day like today.

I tied my Converse back on and grabbed my keys and cell phone before departing from my humble abode. The sun was in its last stage of setting when I stepped out onto the sidewalk, knowing that night wasn't too far off. But I needn't worry. Night around these parts of Maxville is completely safe, really, there were still kids out playing street hockey when I rounded a corner to the Stronghold residence, where I found Will and Layla perched on the roof.

I smiled at their predictability and ran up the driveway of the house. I climbed the tree that had grown on the side of the house and carefully hoisted myself onto the roof, where Will and Layla were engaged in conversation.

"Hey, slackers." I teased, wiping my hands on my jeans as I carefully lowered myself onto the slanted roof beside a rather dejected-looking Will.

"Hi, Lexi." Layla greeted with her usual cheerful smile. Will, on the other hand, gave me a weak smile before returning to his original state.

"I'm guessing things didn't go well, huh?" I asked, crossing my legs at the ankles and leaning back on my arms.

Will shook his head. "Things didn't go at all."

I sent a questioning look to Layla, who quickly explained to me. "He didn't tell his parents."

I swatted Will's arm, making him yelp, "Ow! Lexi!"

I gave him a pointed look that silently asked him to explain himself.

"Well, I was going to, I really was. But when I walked into the kitchen, my dad was displaying the robot eye from their latest victory and then my dad took me to the secret sanctum! I mean, what was I supposed to do then!" Will exclaimed, his frustration making itself very clear.

"Will, you have to tell them." Layla stated seriously.

"My parents are the greatest superheroes in the world—"

At that, I violently coughed and cleared my throat, fixing Will with a look.

"Aside from the Storms, of course."

Satisfied, I let him continue. "I mean, can you imagine trying to tell my parents that their only son is a sidekick, and possibly, according to Nurse Spex, never going to get powers?"

Layla and I were silent, seeing as we had no answer to that. I was technically only sharing half of this misery boat with him, at least I had my powers.

"Everyone expects me to be great." He sighed, sadly.

I sat up straighter and fixed an encouraging smile on my face. I reached an arm around him and hugged his shoulders. "You are great, Will." I told him sincerely.

He smiled half-heartedly. "Thanks."

"So what if you're a sidekick? If you can't be great as a hero, maybe you can be great with Lexi and me as sidekicks." Layla said.

"Hm…maybe." He turned to me next. "Well, what about you, Lexi? How did it go for you?"

I sighed and pulled my knees up to my chest. "I'd be lying if I said it didn't go the same way as you."

"You didn't tell your parents either?" Will asked.

"Well, kind of hard to break news to them when they are halfway around the world." I explained.

"They're still in China?" Layla asked. I nodded in reply.

"But they called and it seems they already had it set in their minds that I am a hero. Unfortunately, they were called away by the Chinese president before I could contest that and tell them the truth." I finished quietly.

"At least, you have awesome powers, Lexi." Will reasoned. "You and Layla, both, would have made heroes!"

I scoffed lightly. "Right, if Layla hadn't gone all rebel maybe she would have."

"And Lexi would have too, if Boomer hadn't judged so unfairly." Layla said.

Will shook his head at us. "Either way, are you two actually okay with being a sidekick?"

I shrugged nonchalantly, giving my legitimate reason, "It doesn't make you any less capable of saving the world."

"Yeah, plus I think the whole dividing us into two groups is stupid. Labels? I mean, what is this?" Layla asked.

"High school?" Will answered, with an answer that had all of us nodding in agreement at the more than true to life answer.

"But it's not the end of the world!" Layla suddenly chimed in, trying to salvage her natural brightness for us.

Layla flung her arm around Will, who became struck with a smile and threw an arm around my shoulders, thoroughly linking us all together like we always are.

"You know, what they say: if life gives you lemons—"Layla started, turning over her shoulder to pluck said lemon from the vibrant green plant she just grew. But Will and I were sent into fits of chuckles at the sight of a shiny red apple in her hand, instead of a lemon.

"Make apple juice?" Will finished, taking the apple in his hand and tossing it up and down.

Layla caught the apple midair and scrutinized it, her eyebrows knitting together. "I can't make lemons and I don't know why."

We all shared a laugh before lying down on the roof, pointing out stars in the sky. This was our way of looking on the brighter side of things, lying here with our best friends and picking out familiar constellations, or rather making them up seems more like it.

"Hey! A shooting star! Quick make a wish!" Layla said, pointing to a bright gleam that shot across the dark sky.

All three of us had our eyes squeezed shut, each of us making our own individual wishes. My own concerning that this year would move along smoothly, with not too many rough speed bumps or altercations with Lash…er…bullies. And I think I may have known what Will and Layla were wishing for.

But unfortunately for us, that wasn't a shooting star…who knows what it really was.

Therefore, our wishes wouldn't be coming true anytime soon.

**Please visit that lovely review box down below:)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I have no ownership of Sky High. I damn well wish I did. **

**Oh well! Here is another chapter! I just want to let you all know that the way I upload my chapters is if I have another already done after it or in the process of being done, that way you shouldn't wait forever:)**

Chapter 5:

"Morning, class! Welcome to Hero Support!"

The door to our Hero Support classroom opened and a mousy, mustached, middle-aged man (Yay, for alliteration!) in a checkered suit entered. Our class silenced in conversation and we all turned to the front, all of us rather excited to start first day of actually learning things. So with apt attention we watched as our teacher shuffled around behind his desk.

"My name is…" He disappeared behind the chalkboard before leaping out seconds later onto his desk in vintage looking American themed costume, complete with a cape and mask, and stroke a poster-worthy pose."All-American Boy!"

The room was silent, save for a random person who coughed in the back. I looked at Will and Layla, all of us wearing curious looks. We weren't quite sure how to respond to this. I mean, I suppose it was clap-worthy, but I felt like it wasn't an opportune time.

"Of course, nowadays…" He slowly but surely clambered off the top of his desk, his joints cracking and creaking, giving us the sense that it's been a quite a while since he's been out as an actual Hero Support. "I just go by Mr. Boy."

Fitting.

"But this year, it will be my privilege to help you all become the very best hero support that you can be. I mean, without hero support, why, there wouldn't be any heroes!"

Everyone shed a skeptical eye on that.

"Alright, there would still be heroes." Mr. Boy admitted. "But—they'd be very…lonely heroes without us."

Once again, some of us were very doubtful. Heroes need not feel lonely because that should really be the last thing on their minds if they are attempting to save lives. I would think Mr. Boy understood that, and maybe he did and this was his way of trying to make us feel better about being sidekicks. Though, I don't know how being around just so the hero isn't lonely makes things any better.

"Lonely heroes, indeed…" Mr. Boy trailed off.

"Uh, Mr. Boy!" Someone that sounded a lot like Zach, and I was right, called from the back of the room.

"Yes?"

"Uh, when do we get to pick our names and costumes? Because I totally call dibs on 'Zach Attack'." Zach explained, looking completely set on the name.

"Well, we don't actually get to choose." Mr. Boy explained, immensely disappointing Zach. "At graduation when you're assigned to your hero, then they have the say on your name and costume. I personally think it's to avoid color clashing. So you see, when I was matched with…" He paused to pull down on a large poster "the Commander. Red, white and blue it was! It really made my eyes…pop!"

I looked at Will who was looking at the poster in curiosity. "Your dad had a sidekick before your mom?"

Will shook his head and raised his hand. "Uh, I didn't know you worked for the Commander."

Mr. Boy scoffed and corrected with a hint of indignation. "I worked _with_ the Commander. Mr…Mr…" Mr. Boy glanced at the seating chart. "Stronghold."

He stopped himself and looked back down at the clipboard to assure himself of the name. When he glanced up again, he clarified with Will of his surname and proceeded to ask if Steve, aka the Commander had ever mentioned him…which came up with zip from Will. Poor Mr. Boy made more attempts to at least see if he was at least mentioned somewhere along the lines of scrapbooks or something, but unfortunately came up empty-handed. It appears that his sidekick name was lost somewhere in the general line-up of things. It is a bit discouraging for the rest of us, if similar circumstances occur.

I raised my hand, as a question bubbled in my mind. "So Mr. Boy. If you were the side-, excuse me, Hero Support for the Commander before he joined forces with Jet Stream, does that mean all heroes had a sidekick before they chose to do same, say like Elemental and Invisible Woman?" I asked, wondering if my parents had sidekicks they had forgotten about.

"In most heroes' cases, yes, but you see for Elemental and Invisible Woman, it is a different case."

"How so?" I asked, leaning forward on my desk.

Mr. Boy returned to the front of the room and leaned back on his desk, looking as though he were prepping for a long story. And as he began, he slowly started to gain this nostalgic glint in his eye. "Well, in my days of high school, Elemental and Invisible Woman were always the smartest around and always worked so well together in a lot of things, making them practically the dynamic duo. So when graduation came around, it only made sense to keep the pair together, creating a powerful heroic team." Mr. Boy said, pausing for a moment as if gathering up the right feeling. "No one really had the heart to break the pair up, especially after Elemental got down on his knee and proposed to Invisible Woman at graduation."

A long chorus of 'Aww's' resounded around the room, even from Magenta, only adding to the warm feeling tickling in my chest. I knew my parents married soon after high school, I just had no idea that by the power of their pairing, they were allowed to stay together and work together as hero and hero. They must have really loved one another.

"Does that answer your question, Miss…Miss…" Mr. Boy looked at his seating chart again, only to be made surprised at the name. "Miss Storm?"

I slowly nodded my head. "Yes, sir."

"As in.." He ran across the room and yanked down another poster, this time one of my parents, in which they looked a bit younger, however still recognizable. "You're their daughter?" He asked, pointing to the photo.

"Guilty." I replied quietly.

Mr. Boy was speechless. He slowly made his way back to the front of the room and turned to face us. He had his eyes trained on both me and Will, his mind probably boggled and utterly confused at how Will and I, the offspring of earth's greatest superheroes, ended up in here, or maybe part of him was excited that he had us in his class. Either way…

"How…Stronghold…Storm…How—"

His ruminating was interrupted by a loud explosion. Mr. Boy started to shout for no one to panic but scrambled about himself as the room started to shake and the lights flickered on and off, eventually turning off completely.

"Oh, whad'ya know." Magenta spoke up, when the room stopped shaking and everyone uncovered themselves from the falling plaster. "He does glow."

I turned around to find Zach actually emitting off a neon yellow light. I was impressed to say the least because now we know he wasn't just bragging about nothing.

"Greetings!"

I turned around again, only to bite my tongue at the sight of a man I could only place as the Mad Science teacher we had yet to meet. I wasn't sure what gave me that idea. It was either the long white lab coat and rubber gloves or the incredibly bulbous cranium that practically shouted 'Mad Genius'. But either way, he was in no way an ambiguous teacher…but then again, none of the Sky High faculty actually make an effort to be less than obvious.

"Little misfire in the Mad Science Lab. No need to worry or panic, unless you're a single-celled organism." He announced with a creepy smile.

I looked over at Will and Layla who were just as slightly freaked out by the teacher as I was.

"Mr. Medulla."

Oh, there's his name. Good thing too, because I don't think he would appreciate the name Bulbous Head.

"We in Hero Support are taught to never panic." Mr. Boy asserted…from his tight hanging position on the light fixture above his desk. Irony at its best.

Suddenly, the light fixture gave out from carrying Mr. Boy and broke from the ceiling, sending Mr. Boy plummeting onto his desk. "My bad." He groaned.

Mr. Medulla looked amused. "I'll go get Nurse Spex…unless she is hurt too."

Needless to say, they had to peel Mr. Boy off his desk and take him to the nurse's office for a little while to recover from his tumble. So in light of that, we were released from class a few minutes before the bell and told by Mr. Boy to go to the gym after the bell for our first basic lesson in Hero Support.

Meanwhile, the six of us detoured down the hallway towards our lockers.

"I hope Mr. Boy is going to be ok." Layla said, sounding genuinely worried about our teacher.

"Oh, I think he'll be just fine. He just needs to put those Hero Support bones back into commission." I said, stopping in front of my locker.

"Aren't you in the least bit worried?"

There goes Layla again, worrying about everyone's welfare. Don't get me wrong, if anything I, too, hope that Mr. Boy didn't hurt himself too bad, but unlike Layla, I wasn't bent on sending flowers to him in the Nurse's office.

"It's like Mr. Boy said, 'We in Hero Support are taught to never panic'." I replied smartly, while I twirled the combination into my locker and opened it. I started fishing some binders out of my backpack and neatly placing them in my locker.

Layla rolled her eyes. "Way to enforce the first lesson."

"I still can't believe that Mr. Boy was my dad's sidekick." Will breathed, shaking his head thoughtfully, obviously not paying much attention to our last few words.

"Well, you learn new things every day." I shrugged, taking two more notebooks out of my backpack then zipping it shut.

The actual class bell rang and halls immediately became flooded with the students of Sky High. I was about to close my locker door so we could get a move on heading down to the gym, but my efforts of doing so were halted as my shoulder was suddenly shoved backwards by some unseen force. But the fact that the air felt rushed around me and my hair was flung into my face, made me aware that there was only one logical answer.

"Speed." I grumbled, glancing down at my notebooks that were spilled across the floor.

"Hey! No running in the halls!" Ethan shouted, trying to be a good student while he went to go find one of my notebooks that flew across the hallway.

I huffed, blowing my hair out of my face before bending over to retrieve my fallen notebooks. But I really should have known better. I really should have. For no sooner than when I touched my notebook, a striped, black and white clothed arm wrapped itself around my waist and low, husky whisper tickled my ear.

"Boo."

The simple, but effective word was accented by the sudden slamming shut of my locker door, making me shoot up in surprise…and right into the chest of a very amused and smug-looking Lash.

"Oh, Lord." I mumbled underneath my breath. I had a silent prayer going on since this morning to see how long I could avoid this situation.

Apparently, not for long.

"Don't you mean, 'Oh, Lash'?"Lash smirked, drawing out the 'Oh' in an exaggerated fashion, making it sound like a near desperate moan.

I scoffed and pushed his arm off my waist, hastily shaking my head. "More like an, 'Oh, no'."

Lash didn't seem fazed by that all. Instead he slid his way around me to lean up against the locker in front of me. Effectively blocking my escape route to the gym and blocking my friends from helping me in any way shape or form. But it looks like they were a little bit too worried to attempt anything in the least bit helpful.

Thanks guys.

"Well, don't act like it isn't a complete and wholly pleasure to see me again." Lash said, basking in his vat of cockiness.

"If by 'complete and wholly pleasure', you mean a 'grotesque, nauseating, run the other way as if your life depended on it' experience, than sure, we are on the same page." I replied, my cynical side peeking out. Perhaps, I was being a bit dramatic, but in my defense, Lash hasn't exactly made a good image of himself the first two times I have seen him. And this time doesn't seem very different.

Lash simply waved his hand flippantly at my words. "Oh, pshhh, details, details. I never was one for those."

At this, I didn't even attempt to not roll my eyes.

"Oh, I figured that much."

He folded his arms against his lean chest, seeming pleased at my anything but appraising words.

"Really? Well, maybe you can 'figure' much more when you join me for lunch today." He said, smoothly. And no matter how charming he had suddenly decided to be, I knew well enough that it wasn't a question.

But that only made my answer all the more fun to say. "No, thank you."

A sarcastically, sweet smile graced my lips as I made my attempt to pass him. But his hand reached out and caught my wrist, warmth spilling over my skin making me stop short.

"That wasn't a question." He said quietly. Lash was attempting to keep his usually easy-going nature, but wouldn't dare be too forceful.

I softly pulled my wrist from his hand, the tingle and warmth falling away instantly, and lifted it to rest on his shoulder in a false-comforting manner.

"Looks like I answered anyways."

The fact that the warning bell immediately chimed after my words gave Lash no room to answer as I walked away. When I came upon my friends, who were looking on in mixed emotions, I linked arms with Layla and started to drag the group back down to gym. Questions were thrown out about what had just occurred, all of which I simply replied to with a shrug or a 'Don't worry about it'. Eventually, they had to settle with my responses alone, save for Layla who made me swear to fully explain, as we arrived at the gym where Mr. Boy was back up and ready to begin our first lesson in Hero Support: costume quick-change. It was good first lesson to say the least. It did well to distract me from the occurrences from earlier and at least did its best to keep things amusing for me and my friends (especially when it was Zach's turn to do his quick-change and he seemed to have forgotten his clothes on the way out). I supposed then that it was perhaps a blessing that I didn't have to suffer classes with Lash. Of course, there was gym, which we had yet to experience, and lunch, that now when I think about it, may require some strategic mapping.

Well, great. That was aside from my original plan for high school.

**Please review! I adore hearing what others would like to see, or what they think will happen:)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is related to Sky High. I just own Lexi and her parents.**

**Thank you for all of your lovely reviews! They make me smile and give me a warm feeling on the inside!:)**

**Enjoy!**

Chapter 6:

Ok, so you are going to be pretty upset with me.

No, I did not suddenly develop a third power of telepathy. But I do strongly think your feelings for me will waver significantly after I tell you why I believe so accordingly.

I haven't exactly…er…necessarily told my parents that I am not hero.

Keep in mind that neither has Will so really we have made no developments with our pending problem.

But I swear on my streak of blue hair that I have legitimate reasons.

First off, when my parents finally returned home from China, they had thoroughly convinced themselves that I was of Hero status at their Alma Mater and didn't feel the need to give me the chance to explain, claiming that they 'already knew how it went', assuming it was somewhat similar to their own sorting. Boy, I wonder if they knew how wrong they were. Second of all, Hero Support had actually become more entertaining by the day, so much so that I didn't even think I wanted to leave Hero Support for actual Hero classes anymore. So between having such great classes everyday and having to discreetly duck, run and hide from Lash (not in that particular order), telling my parents that I wasn't Hero didn't seem so important anymore. Plus, all my parents saw when I came home was a smile on my face and a simple but effective reply of 'interesting' or 'good' when they ask about my day and that alone sufficed nicely for them without question.

So, you can only imagine how incredibly unfortunate our situation had become when it was Will's turn to host a study group for all of us, carefully and coincidentally planned on a night his parents were out saving the world and only the near impossible happened.

"Ok, 'A radioactive zombie is charging at your hero. Do you hand him: A) his silver-tipped crossbow, B) A wooden spike, or C)—" Magenta was midway through reading our choices from our text books, when Zach suddenly interrupted her.

"Ok, hold up, I am already holding the crossbow, why can't I shoot the zombie myself."

There was a collected sigh around the room.

"Because we're Hero Support." I explained, regretfully. Unfortunately, no matter what we learned in Hero Support, there was always that itch that we would probably never be given the chance to do the noble act that the hero must do. We knew that's how it worked, but it went unspoken among us and no one really cared to dampen the mood…until now, as you can see.

"And if your hero, asks for a crossbow…" Ethan sighed.

"Then you hand him a crossbow." Magenta finished.

"Or her!" Layla piped up.

"Plus, you can't kill a zombie." I informed.

"You can only…re-kill him." Will added.

"Or her!" Layla pointed out again, making us all give a half-hearted chuckle.

"So if you kids are all in here, who's out there saving the world?" A deep voice inquired.

All of our heads turned to see Mr. Stronghold, well, actually he was the Commander right now, standing at the entrance to the living room. I suppose that we were too engrossed in our studies to hear the front door open. Will smiled along with the rest of us at the sight of his famous father, but soon realized what it also meant.

"Dad! What are you doing home so early?" He asked quickly.

"After I stopped the Superdome from collapsing, I was watching the game and got to thinking that we hadn't thrown the old pigskin around in awhile. I thought I'd hustle back home, but I see you, Layla, and Lexi already made new friends." Mr. Stronghold said, gesturing to the sight of teenagers sprawled around his living room.

At that another, extremely familiar voice chimed in. "Lexi made new friends with whom?"

You can only imagine my shock when I saw my dad, clad in his blue and silver garb, come into the living room and stand beside Will's father.

"Daddy! What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice reaching some high, squeaky pitch.

"Well, when the Commander kept the Superdome from collapsing, he needed someone to create supports for it, till it could be properly fixed." My dad said, cuffing Mr. Stronghold on the shoulder.

Mr. Stronghold laughed. "And thank God, Elemental was there to make some emergency stone pillars and supports, and even welded some of the cracked metal together."

"So naturally, we stuck around to watch the game, till the Commander wanted to come home." My dad explained before turning to me, "I was heading home, too sweetheart, but I didn't know you had a study group with your friends. How come you have never brought them around before?" My dad asked.

"Well, I—"

Thankfully Ethan interrupted, his excitement of being in the midst of two heroes was too much for him to ignore as he shot up to shake hands with my dad and Will's dad.

"It is a great pleasure to meet both of you."

"So what's your name and power, son?" the Commander asked, assuming that we were all of the Hero status.

"I'm Ethan and I melt."

They looked confused at first, but masked it by nodding politely as they went on down our new line of friends.

"Zach. I glow."

"Alright."

They seemed to grow more and more confused and perhaps disappointed at what they thought was the new brand of hero as they shook our friends' hands. And with them, Will and I started to grow more and more worried at the impending predicament that we knew was coming one way or another.

"Magenta. I shape-shift." Even she got up eagerly to shake hands with my dad.

Our dads brightened up hopefully at that. "Shape-shift!"

"Into a guinea pig." She clarified.

"Oh. Great." My dad had a funny look on his face as he nodded slowly.

"Great….great…" Mr. Stronghold trailed off as he kept eyeing the three of them before he suddenly exclaimed. "Great! Well, I make a mean tuna fish sandwich, anyone want one?"

Everyone voiced the negative and the Commander disappeared into the kitchen. Will sucked in a deep breath before following on his heels, making the excuse that he was suddenly parched. Layla and I shared a look of mutual understanding. We turned back around, remembering that my dad was still in the room.

"So, erm, how're Hero classes for you all?" He asked, making my breath catch in my throat.

"Hero classes?" Magenta repeated, looking up at my dad with a puzzled look on her face. Ethan and Zach easily matched her expression, nearly doubling the growing predicament for me.

"I remember them when I was your age. I wonder if they have gotten any harder." My dad reflected.

"Uh, sir, Mr. Storm. We aren't in hero classes." Ethan said, slowly.

Now, it was my dad's turn to look confused. I nervously started to glance back and forth from my friends to my father and back again, tapping my pen on my text book faster and faster. I was going to say something, I really was but my dad got to talking before me.

"Aren't in hero classes? But I thought…" He repeated, his eyes flickering towards me.

"Nope. We like to call ourselves Hero Support." Zach said proudly.

My dad nodded his head, understanding sweeping across his face. He was probably tying that title together with their respective powers.

"That's…great for you three!" My dad said cheerily, gesturing to Magenta, Zach and Ethan.

It was evident then that my dad hadn't fully grasped the situation.

"Actually, Mr. Storm—" Layla started, but I laid a hand on her leg to stop her.

If Will was going for it, I might as well do it too.

"Dad. All of us…" I stopped and emphasized 'all of us' by waving my arms around at the whole entirety of the room. "All of us are in Hero Support."

My dad was quiet. That's the least of it, I tell you. But his face was tell-tale of many mixed emotions. At first, I wondered if he really was about to blow a fuse. But I suppose the fact that we were around other people, my friends at the least, kept him from losing it. I had hope that he would at least be somewhat reasonable, because he always thought before he did something. And from the looks of things that's what I was getting.

"I see." He finally said, releasing a long-held breath. His jaw tensed again. "Lexi, gather your stuff. It's time we head home."

I didn't argue, but quietly did as I was told. My friends looked on helplessly, but they were quick to understand the depth of the situation. They all bid me a quiet goodbye and promise to see me tomorrow before I followed my dad out of the Strongholds' house. We didn't speak the whole way home, considering the fact that the walk home was too short to sustain the conversation I knew was coming.

As soon as we stepped into the front door, I headed towards the stairs, wanting to leave my school books upstairs, and maybe escape for a moment before I had to give my explanation.

"Stop right there, Alexandra Storm."

No such luck.

"You have some explaining to do." He said, not sounding angry, just ready to hear what I had to say.

He started heading towards the kitchen and beckoned for me to follow him. When we got to the kitchen, my mom was pulling our dinner out of the oven and she immediately recognized that something was wrong.

"What's going on?" She asked, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel.

"Sit down, we are about to have a rational family discussion." My dad explained, taking his usual seat at the head of the table and waited till we were seated.

My parents looked at me expectantly. "Please explain, Lexi."

I licked my lips, preparing myself for a well-thought out explanation to come tumbling from my lips. "I'm not a hero."

"What? Why not? I thought—" My mom interrupted, her face looking a bit befuddled.

"Sandra, let her explain." My dad said, quieting my mother from going off and ranting questions she would probably not give me enough time to answer."Continue."

"Like I said, I am not a hero. I was sorted into Hero Support on my first day at Sky High. I swear I was going to tell you, but you guys had already assumed that I was and never really asked for me to explain to you what happened. I mean, I showed my powers like I was supposed to and I thought I did well-enough to be placed as a Hero, but according to Coach Boomer—"

My dad interrupted me. "According to Coach Boomer?"

I nodded my head.

My dad scoffed loudly and sat back in his seat, a look of disbelief on his face. "I can't believe it. After all these years, he still refuses to let it go."

"What? Dad, what are you talking about?" I asked.

"Honey, you don't think…"My mom started, but trailed off as she met my dad's dark eyes.

My dad suddenly shot up from his seat and started to pace around. "Sandra, the man is no different than he was in our high school days. Still carrying a stupid grudge and now he is taking it out on our daughter."

My mom stood up to calm him down as she could see his fists clenching and unclenching and his jaw tense up a significant amount. I, however, was still in the dark about everything and wondered if an explanation aside from my own was going to come out tonight.

"Honey, I don't think Boomer would ever subject a student like that." My mom said, taking her hands and running it through my dad's dark hair.

"You really don't think so? The man still hates us, well me." My dad said.

"Uh, wait, why does Coach Boomer hate you?" I piped up, with the question that has been sitting on the back burner of my mind for a while.

My parents turned to me, my dad immediately relaxing at the sight of me. He walked over and took a seat in front of me again. My mom mirrored his actions.

"When we were in high school at Sky High, your mom and I were from two very different cliques." My dad started to explain. "Your mom came from the top of the pyramid and was perhaps the most beautiful and smartest girl in the school."

I didn't doubt that for one second. I've seen pictures of my mom when she was my age and let me tell you she was gorgeous. Still is, actually. She had the ideal body with the perfect curves, flawless face and sparkling cerulean eyes (which I gained by balancing genetics) all framed by long blonde hair; very much so a contradiction to my dad.

"While I, on the other hand, was not." My dad continued on with his story. "I spent all my time in the Mad Science Lab thinking up new chemicals or machines alongside Medulla. We never really talked to each other till second semester of Freshmen year when by some chance we were partnered up for a project and from then on, we became the best of friends."

My mom smiled at this and took his hand as she continued the parts of the story I had heard from Mr. Boy. "We worked together on almost everything from then onto graduation. People even thought we were dating at sometimes."

"Well, weren't you?"

"Not yet, we weren't." My dad clarified.

"You see, Lexi, I had a boyfriend at the time, while your father and I were in the works at Sky High and—"

A light clicked in my head and the craziest thought rolled around in my mind. Crazy enough that it just might be…

"Mom." I interrupted. "Please, do not say that Coach Boomer was your boyfriend."

When neither of my parents responded with a negative, but with acquiescent nods, I felt a cringe grow on my face.

"That's…that's gross. I can't believe you dated Coach Boomer in high school."I shook my head, slightly disgusted, even shuddering at the thought. It just didn't seem to make much sense to me nor could I even picture it. Coach Boomer was just not at all what I thought my mom would have dated, I mean, I should consider that maybe Coach Boomer was somewhat attractive in high school (I say that very loosely) but I will always think that my mom is perfect by my dad's side.

"I mean, why would you date him? He seems like such a bully."

My dad sighed. "He was. He made my life a living nightmare after Freshmen year, when your mom started spending more time with me than him. Not a day went by when he didn't try to torment me in one way or another."

I looked at my mom. "And you still went out with Boomer after that?"

My mom looked aghast and shook her head of blonde hair. "Of course not! I dumped his behind the minute I caught him putting your father in a locker!"

"Unfortunately, at odds ends, Boomer wasn't happy with being dumped for me, 'the school nerd', and never really got over it. So throw in his lack of success as a super to the mix and you have got yourself one pompous, bitter gym coach." My dad concluded.

"That's a bit immature, don't you think? For him to pay back his offenses on me over something that happened years ago." I remarked, hardly feeling offended by Boomer's actions seeing as they were done on childish intent.

"Exactly, Lexi, which is why I am going to call Principal Powers and request that you be re-placed fairly." My dad agreed and stood up, heading for the cordless phone in the kitchen.

"No, dad! Wait!" I shot up from my seat, my hands raised in attempt to keep my dad from walking to the kitchen.

He stopped and gave me questioning look. "You…don't want me to call Principal Powers?"

"Well, you can, I don't know if she would like to be called on school business at seven-thirty at night…" I trailed off as that train of thought went off somewhere in my mind while I jumped back on the right track. "However, would it be so bad for me to just stay in Hero Support?"

"You _want _to stay?" My mom asked.

I nodded my head and started to give my list of reasons as to why I should, or want to, stay. "The classes are great and I am doing really well in them. All of my friends are in Hero Support, too. And even if I am in Hero Support, it really doesn't make me any less capable of saving the world, right?"

"Lexi is right, Daniel." My mom said, indirectly voicing her agreement with me.

My dad sighed heavily, his shoulders lowering in defeat. He, too, couldn't deny that I was right.

"Do you truly want to stay in Hero Support?" He asked.

"Would it be so bad and disappointing if I wanted to?" I replied quietly.

My dad looked down at me, his eyes softening, and gathered me close in his arms, kissing the top of my head.

"Alexandra Storm," He started. "You could never disappoint us. No matter what you do or where you are, we will always be proud of you. Understand? So if you want to be in Hero Support, then be a Hero Support. But make sure you are **one hell of a** Hero Support."

I laughed into my dad's chest at the sound of his use of mainstream lingo.

"Alright?" He asked, pulling back and holding up his pinky. "Promise?"

I nodded my head eagerly and linked our pinkies together. "Promise."

It was a childish act, but it's what we did and it always seemed to be more binding than a contract signed in blood…not that we have ever done that before.

We eventually parted, brightly smiling at how things had come to settle, and my mom commanded my dad and me to our respective rooms to wash up for dinner. My dad headed towards the secret sanctum and I used the route to the stairs that passed through the small library of our house. As I passed by the shelves, I roughly ran my eyes across the number of books we had, till I came across a thinner spine of a completely different color than our other books. I paused and tilted my head to read it clearly.

_Sky High: 1985_

"Hey mom!" I called out, while I pulled the yearbook off the shelf.

"Yes, honey?" My mom replied, poking her head out from the dining room where she was setting the table.

"Can I look at this?" I asked, showing her the old, bright blue and orange yearbook, bearing the seal of Sky High on its cover, in my hand.

"Sure! Why?"

"All this talk about your old high school days makes me curious."

"Oh, well, go on ahead, then!" She answered brightly before disappearing back into the dining room.

With the yearbook tucked underneath my arm, I skipped upstairs to my room. I quickly kicked off my Converse and left my backpack and books, yearbook included, on my desk. After a short trip to the bathroom, I returned to my room and took the yearbook back in my hands. I took a seat on my bed, legs hanging over the edge, and cracked the yearbook open on my lap. I flipped through the pages of all the black and white, and occasional colored, photos, taking in the younger version of some of the heroes and teachers I see now-a-days. Coach Boomer for one thing, actually was sort of, kind of, attractive…in a twisted sense…okay, who am I kidding. The guy had a mullet! Anyways…I even saw Mr. and Mrs. Stronghold, neither of them had changed immensely from their high school years. When I came across my parents senior portraits, I couldn't help but giggle at how much my dad has changed and how much my mom hadn't. Like I said, it was true that my mom is still just as gorgeous and it was also evident that my dad really was the nerd of the pack, when I saw a picture of him in group picture of the Mad Science club, in between a younger version of Medulla and…

I stopped turning the page and whipped back to the club photo. I brought the book closer to my face as I squinted at the face of the girl beside my dad. She had long straight brown hair, thick glasses and a scowl printed on her face.

Her face was too familiar to forget. She looked exactly like…

_Gwen Grayson_

My eyes suddenly widened in shock and I set the book back down on my lap, to sort my thoughts out. I picked it up again, glancing at the face to reassure myself that my eyes weren't fooling me before I looked down at the list of names.

_Sue Tenney_

"Curious." I whispered to myself as I continued to stare at the picture, unsure of what to think of the resemblance.

"Lexi! Come on down for dinner!"

My head shot up and I quickly slammed the yearbook shut.

And as I went downstairs for dinner, I kept thinking to myself that the resemblance really was a curious thing.

_Curious, indeed. _

**Please Review :) I love you!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High or anything that goes with it! There I said it! Are you happy!**

**Anyways, thank you for all your lovely reviews! Enjoy! *Please read notes at bottom!**

Chapter 7:

The next morning found our trusty little trio on our usual route to the bus stop. Last night's events were still pretty fresh in my mind and were fresh enough to be retold. Lucky for me, Will and Layla were curious as to what had happened after I left the study group last night and I easily recounted the story to them, most of it anyways. Unfortunately, the only thing that seems to be interesting their minds was the fact that my dear old mother had relations with our gym teacher.

"So your mom actually dated Coach Boomer in high school?" Layla said, slowly and incredulously.

"Yes! Lord, stop saying it already, it creeps me out just thinking about it!" I groaned, combing a hand through my hair.

"I'm with Lexi on that one, it's weird." Will agreed, shuddering.

"Yes, my point exactly! Now can we move on away from that and talk about something else?" I asked and fished around for a something else to talk about.

"Well, Will never did fully explain how his dad took it." Layla said.

"Yes, how did your dad react?" I asked.

Will sighed heavily and slumped his shoulders a bit. "He was angry at first but eventually had to come around to the idea that I am a sidekick with no powers whatsoever."

Layla slung her arm over his shoulders. "At least it wasn't as bad as you originally thought it would be."

His previous notions of how his father would take the news were all heavily exaggerated, usually ending with some part of Maxville or our street destroyed.

"He broke one of our house phones trying to call Principal Powers about re-sorting me."

"It could have been worse, Will." I told him, nudging him with my elbow.

"Valid point." He sighed, agreeing with me. "How about you? Did your parents make some attempt to call Principal Powers?"

"Oh they tried, but I didn't let them." I said.

"Why not?" Will asked, shocked that I tossed the chance to be a Hero, seeing as he knew for a fact that I had more than enough legitimate evidence to be a Hero. If it were him, he would jump at the opportunity.

I merely shrugged as we arrived at the bus stop. "I like Hero Support classes and I am doing really well in them, why change? All my friends are in the class and besides, if Boomer's choice to make me a sidekick was based on some juvenile vengeance trip, then having my parents demand a re-do, is like giving Boomer the satisfaction that he got the best of my family." I explained, stopping since the bus arrived.

"Morning, Ron!" I greeted, pushing a cheerful smile at our bus drive. Layla and Will followed behind giving him the same, equally polite greeting.

"G'Morning, kids!" He saluted us before shutting the door behind us.

We plopped down in empty seats, waving to Ethan, Zach and Magenta who were scattered among the other seats around the bus.

"Next stop—Sky High!" Ron announced, as it was his routine to do so.

We made the usual drive towards the unfinished highway and the seatbelts easily snaked their way around everyone's body just before we made the usual drop and ascent. No one was horrified at having to do this anymore, but rather it had become an enjoyable daily ritual that most of us looked forward to in the morning. It was like an off-track roller coaster…to school. Whatever, so long as we got where we needed to go.

The bus makes another somewhat rough landing that only got smoother with each day that passes, on the ground of Sky High. Ron turned in his seat, adjusting his bright orange Sky High hat, to welcome us to another day to Sky High.

"Welcome to, Sky Hi—"

An all too familiar black and white striped appendage whipped its way into our bus and snagged Ron's hat right off his head. Ron ran off the bus, looking for whoever took his hat. I looked at all of my friends from over my shoulder and rolled my eyes, all of us knowing who it was and believing it to be too early to deal with them. Me, especially.

"Come on. Let's go see if we can help." Will said, standing up and being the first to go off the bus.

Despite what I felt like doing, I ended up standing beside Will outside the bus and watching Ron stand helplessly on the grass trying to get Speed to stop running around and give him back his hat, while Lash stood back, arms folded, and laughing, obviously amused at the tormenting they were instigating.

"Hey, big boy, where's your hat?" Speed taunted whilst running in a zig-zag pattern across the grass.

"Yeah, where's your hat?" Lash jeered, laughing even more when he saw us approaching. But when he settled his eyes on me, he gave me an unsettling little smirk. He must have known that I have been successfully avoiding him for the last couple of days. Otherwise, he might be a bit dimmer than I originally thought.

"Come on, if you don't want to respect me, at least respect the hat!" Ron pleaded.

"What do we do?" Layla asked me.

I pursed my lips and watched Speed continue his zig-zagging with no end till I figured out a simple but effective way of getting this over with. "Watch this." I said quietly.

Very discreetly, I lifted my pointer finger and waited till Speed's blur was approaching a certain spot on the grass before wriggling my finger in a small circle, sending a small shot of blue electric bolts in that direction just as Speed ran into the spot.

"AHHH!" He shrieked, while his body convulsed for a moment form the bolts of electricity running through his body.

"Lexi!" Layla pinched my back.

"Hey! I only did enough to shock him for a second and stop him. Look, he's getting up, he's fine." I said, gesturing to Speed who was attempting to stand up straight on his wobbling legs. Ah, the side effects of electric shock. Unfortunately, another side effect is an unhappy victim. (Though, who would be happy…masochists?)

"Storm!" He shouted angrily at me. He looked like he was about to come at me had it not been for Lash's arm holding him back. Lash leaned over and muttered something that satisfied and calmed Speed's ear. However, it didn't make me feel the same way, considering Lash's eyes kept glancing up at me while he said whatever he said.

"Look, guys, just give him his hat back." Will said.

Lash and Speed looked at Will then back at me. "Alright, _sidekicks_." Lash spat our titles out derogatorily. "Give him his hat back."

Speed had his smirk back on his head as he ripped Ron's hat off his head and threw it on the ground.

"We'll catch you later, _sidekicks._ Stronghold…Storm." Lash winked at me and mockingly waved at us before racing up the steps. I didn't even want to know what they had planned, at this point I knew better than to ask.

"Thanks for that, Lexi. You too, Will." Ron said, securely putting his hat back on his head.

"No problem, Ron." Will said.

And with that, we gathered ourselves and ran up the steps into school, each of us hoping things would be a little less eventful. When the bell rang, we were all seated in our first class period, Mr. Boy ready with a new lesson. But I was still a bit flustered from this morning and a bit on the verge of boredom from hearing Mr. Boy talk about dry cleaning our Hero Support costumes to give my usual full amount of interest. So near the middle of first period, I suddenly raised my hand, interrupting Mr. Boy's rant.

"Yes, Lexi?"

"May I have the bathroom pass, please?" I asked.

He gave me the pass without question and continued on with his lesson. I went to the bathroom down the hall, did my business and washed my hands, even splashing water on my face just to extend my stay a bit longer.

Afterwards, I started back to class, walking down the silent hallways where my Converse were the only things making noise. I was nearly at the Hero Support classroom, when one of the classroom doors whipped open to my left and I found myself being yanked by the crook of my arm into the room. A surprised shout would have left my lips had it not been for the hand covering my mouth, but that didn't keep me from struggling anyways. The hand tightened around my mouth and arm and I glanced down to see it connected to a stripe-clad arm.

I instantly tore my face away from Lash's hand and stepped away from him.

"Really, Lash? Is there a legitimate reason behind yanking me into this empty classroom?" I demanded, gesturing to the empty Science lab we were in.

Lash shrugged and looked amused at my reaction before he hopped up on one of the tables in the classroom.

"You've been hiding from me." He stated, giving me an admonitory look.

"Are you seriously going to wonder why I have been though?" I asked, not even attempting to deny that I have been.

"You aren't going to deny that you have been hiding from me?" He asked, sounding surprised.

I sighed and leaned against the desk across from the one Lash was sitting on. "And make myself look foolish in front of you, I'd rather not."

He smirked and nodded, as if he were actually appreciating my answer. He seems to enjoy doing that. Lash jumped off the table and slid over till he stood in front of me, giving me a reasonable amount of space.

"You know you really pissed off Speed this morning." He said.

"I am not going to say that he didn't deserve it and speaking of Speed, where is the speedster? Aren't you two conjoined at the hip or something? And what are you guys even doing out of class?" I asked.

"Well, I could ask the same about you but to answer your question, Medulla is punishing us for nearly blowing up the lab the other day so he is having us clean some of the lab equipment in here."

"That was you?" I asked, recalling the explosion that injured our teacher for a little while.

He nodded proudly before continuing. "Yeah, sure was. But Speed got bored and decided to take a turn around the campus; I was going to join him but I saw you leaving class and…"

"And the chance to bother me was just too hard to pass up?" I finished for him.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "It could be worse for you, you know."

I looked up at him, skeptically, as he pushed himself off the desk and moved closer to me.

"Worse? Explanation is appreciated." I said, my voice coming out quieter with every inch he stepped closer to me.

"It could have been Speed who pulled you into the room, and like I said, you really pissed him off this morning." His voice became a low whisper as he leaned over me, his arms trapping me in again. "Cool trick, too, by the way." He added, smirk returning to his face.

I didn't thank him, but asked the question on the forefront of my mind. "And being here with you is better how?"

"I can be a nice guy." He breathed, lowering his head so he was of equal height and could look right at my eyes. "If you let me."

I turned my head to the side at the last second. "You haven't given me a reason to believe that."

"And I haven't given you a reason to think that I am a bad guy." He countered.

I opened my mouth to contest that, but found that I couldn't. When I thought about it, all he ever really did was…shamelessly flirt with me. Damn it.

Lash chuckled at the fact he had me speechless. I rolled my eyes at him and pushed him away from me, just as the door opened and the bell rang. Speed stood at the door, glowering at me.

"Storm. What the hell are you doing in here?" He asked.

Lash wrapped a long arm around my shoulders and started ushering me to the door. "Just telling our favorite little sidekick here that she can't hide from us forever."

Speed smirked. "Right. See you next period, _sidekick._" Speed roughly shoved me out of the door, his raucous laughter resounding in my ears, making me momentarily forget my conversation with Lash.

_Next period, what's next period again?_

"Lexi! God, we thought you fell into the toilet! Why were you gone so long?" Layla and my friends were suddenly around me and handed me my stuff as they had just gotten out of class.

"I…uh…got distracted." I mumbled, grabbing my backpack from them. I glanced behind me, but Lash and Speed were already gone. I turned back to my friends "Hey, what do we have this period?"

"Save the Citizen." Ethan informed me.

"Wait? What is that?" I asked, as it didn't sound like any of our other normal classes and considering that Speed said that they'd see us this period, I would really like to know what we were doing exactly. Regrettably no one knew what 'Save the Citizen' was either and could only give me shrugs.

"But it looks like we are going to find out. Come on, let's head to the gym." Layla said, detecting my nervousness, and started to lead us down the hall towards the gym.

We finally made it to the gym, after a minor delay in the fact that I had forgotten that I still had Mr. Boy's bathroom pass and had to run back to return it. When we arrived, we immediately went to the locker room, to our respective ones of course, and changed into our assigned gym uniforms, which, by the way are just as horrifying as the teacher who designed them. They were a sickly light blue colored t-shirt that was nothing like the vibrant blue of my eyes or the streak in my hair, and bright orange pair of shorts.

When we entered into the actual gym, we found a huge rink had been placed inside lined by tall slats of plexi-glass. The rink itself was made to look like a civilian park, complete with benches, light posts, and grass. However, the only thing they probably wouldn't have in the civilian park was the pit of sharp razors in the center of the rink with a stuffed human doll dangling above it.

"I don't really like where this is headed." Layla whispered to me as she looked at the rink.

"I'm going to have to agree with you on that one." I replied, looking at the front of the rink, where Coach Boomer sat, in his usual wear, sitting in tall chair to help him over see the game.

We took a seat on the bleachers that were placed all around the rink and waited for the boys to emerge, funny because you would think boys would get done faster than girls. But no matter, they eventually came out and sat with us while Boomer waited for all the students to come out.

When everyone was out and seated, Boomer stood up to give a bit of spiel.

Not surprised. He enjoys those.

"Welcome Freshmen to your first game of 'Save the Citizen'."

There was a loud cheer coming from the Senior section of the bleachers, but it wasn't a cheer of endearment, more like the sound spectators made when gladiators fought to the death.

"In this game, you have four players. Two villains and two heroes. Heroes you are given exactly three minutes to immobilize your opponents and _save your citizen!_" He bellowed, pointing to the doll as it was activated and the doll dropped closer to the blades, its automated voice calling for help.

"Questions? No. Let's get this started!" Boomer shouted, obviously not wanting to hear those 'whiner babies' again. He looked down at his clipboard and called out again. "So for Round One, we have our undefeated victors from last year: Lash and Speed!"

The gym erupted in a mix of cheers and groans as I watched Lash and Speed saunter into the middle of the rink, donning protective armor, which was really just pads, over their gym uniforms. They were basking in the attention, smirking proudly and waving at both their adorers and haters.

"Heroes or Villains?" Boomer asked them, once everyone quieted down.

"Villians!" Speed answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Ooh, like I didn't see that one coming." Boomer said sarcastically. "Now choose your heroes!"

Suddenly, I knew what Speed was referring to earlier.

"Crap." I hissed as Lash and Speed started to peruse the crowds for their opponents.

It was obvious that no one wanted to be their opponents as I saw majority of the students shy away from Lash and Speed's eyes when they came to poke through their section of the bleachers.

"We choose…Peace!" Lash's voice rang out.

I saw Warren Peace reluctantly pull himself out of his seat and approach the rink, while Lash and Speed continued to make their second choice. When they finally ended up looking at our end of the bleachers, I literally almost ducked behind Layla, my eyes squeezed shut and my lips pleading and begging in silent prayer that Speed wasn't about to do what I thought he was about to—

"Storm!"

Damn it.

I peered from around Layla to see Lash and Speed smirking at me and I had no choice but to pick myself out of my seat, inwardly groaning and cursing the whole way there, and make my way to the rink.

Warren was already there and almost finished with putting his armor on. Boomer roughly tossed me a set and I lightly glared at him before pulling on the pads.

"So, have a game plan?" I asked Warren.

He glanced up at me and over at the waiting Lash and Speed. "No freshmen has ever won 'Save the Citizen' especially against them." He informed me. I silently thanked God that I had the right mind to be decent toward him that day. I can only imagine how this would play out if we weren't decent towards each other.

"Which is why I ask again, if you have a game plan." I asked quietly, pulling on my pads and securing them on after I quickly combed my hair up into a ponytail.

Warren nodded and turned us both around so Lash and Speed could only see our backs, while he silently tightened and secured the latches that I couldn't reach on the back of my chest plate.

"Well, who can you take? Lash or Speed?" He whispered to me. (Such a suggestive question)

"I can't go against Lash." I said, sounding sure of myself.

"Why not? Lovers' quarrel?" Warren asked, giving me the first taste of his humor.

I felt the blush rise in my neck, making me go warm. "No." I said, solidly, shoving my blush away. "The reason I can't go up against Lash is because my offensive power can't do anything to him. Rubber just insulates electricity. But fire…"

"Burns it away." Warren finished for me, both of us reaching an understanding.

When I turned around again, Lash was staring intently at the two of us, nearly glaring holes into Warren's back. Why? Well, I didn't exactly know. But I simply ignored it and made sure the rest of my gear was safely on.

"What about Speed?" Warren asked me.

"I'll deal with him. He's got a bone to pick with me and I'll let him have it." I muttered back, keeping my expression blank and subtly moving my lips so it didn't look like we were actually planning something.

People knew that Warren didn't socialize. He purposely alienated himself and therefore they assumed that no one would be able to work with him. However, no one knew that we could work together. A little bit of civility goes a long way.

"Alright." Warren smirked a little bit and nodded his head.

"Ready!" Boomer called out.

Warren and I walked further into the rink and stood side by side, readying ourselves as Lash and Speed mirrored our movements.

"Set!"

I clenched and unclenched my hands and watched the timer, the doll, and our opponents.

"Battle!"

Immediately, Warren threw his arms out, flames engulfing his arms. He took aim at Lash and started firing. Lash was nearly burnt at the first shot but started to dodge the flame balls as they started to come faster. Warren looked determined and it seemed like he had it under control with Lash.

"Hey Storm! Shock this!" Speed shouted at me before he sped off.

I lost sight of the bastard and looked around for his familiar fat blur. It wasn't until I felt someone shove me forward that I knew that Speed was there. I sucked in a deep breath and turned around in time to see Speed running away, making another full circle. When he came back around to me, he slapped the back of my exposed neck. Driven by my aggravation with him, I accidentally released a bolt of electricity across his path, but narrowly missed him.

"Oohoo! Missed me!" he mocked and started running again.

He kept making full circles around me, thoroughly bruising my arm and neck with solid slaps and I took each of them, patiently waiting for the proper moment to immobilize him. It wasn't until he ran at me full force and swept my feet out from under me that I had had enough.

"That's it." I grunted, slamming my fist against the polished floor of the gym, sending a huge electric current through the floor, stunning Lash and Warren who were still brawling in a different corner of the rink.

I stood up and watched as Speed was making another round about the gym and picked a specific corner of the rink that was far away from myself and a little ways off from the dangling doll (no, I had not forgotten about that). I glanced at the clock seeing we had one minute left to immobilize and save. But I pulled my attention from the clock just in time to see Speed approaching the spot I had zeroed on. Patiently, I waited till he set one slightest inch inside the area and I instantly threw up my left hand, creating a domed force field around him. Speed didn't see the translucent wall in time and ran smack into the wall of the dome, and due to his incredible speed, his momentum bounced him back against the opposite wall till he landed smack down on the floor, groaning in pain. The gym erupted in cheers.

"Argh!"

I looked away from the crowds to see Lash tying up Warren with his arms, threading them everywhere and every way. Warren struggled, trying to get out of his arms but Lash only held on tighter.

"Warren!" I shouted.

"_Help Me! Help Me!" _The doll said, dropping closer to the blades as the time drew down to thirty seconds.

"Lexi! Get the citizen!" Warren said, while he continued to struggle. Suddenly, Warren grunted loudly and his whole body erupted in flames, making Lash retract his arms and blow on his singed clothes sleeves and red skin.

We both nodded to each other and glanced at the clock.

_15 seconds._

I looked at my left hand, still outstretched to contain Speed, in case he got up, which I doubt he would. The clock was counting down and I lifted my right hand, shooting bolts in the direction of the machine running the sharp blades. I heard the machine sputter and grunt before it sparked and finally shut down on itself. But the doll was still being dropped closer and closer.

"Warren! Cut the rope!" I shouted to him.

_5!_

_4!_

_3!_

He nodded and sent a ball of fire to the rope before I held out another force field underneath the doll to cradle it safely to the ground. The gym exploded with loud cheers as Warren approached me, actually wearing a triumphant smile. We shared a high-five and looked at Boomer, waiting for him to announce what he was obligated to announce, even if it was obvious. And he did announce it, though reluctantly.

"Winners: Heroes!"

Warren and I turned back around to survey our work. Lash was currently smacking out the last little flames flickering on his sleeves and blowing on his reddened skin and Speed was still rolling around on the ground groaning and rubbing his head. I was satisfied to say the least.

"Nice work." Warren commented, giving a short laugh.

"He wanted it. Well…" I paused to look at Speed's writhing form and started to chuckle. "Well, he got it."

**I pray that you enjoyed that as much as I liked writing it! Yay! Warren makes somewhat of a friend in Lexi! And what is up with Lash! Seriously! Anyways…please feel free to visit that lovely review box down there (I am currently pointing at the box!)! Thanks! Love you!**

**Also, I may not be posting in the next two days or so because tomorrow is my birthday and my parents would rather not have me holed up in my room writing all day and the day after my best friend and I are having a movie marathon. But I promise you I will bring you more chapters soon! Till then!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey, everyone! So first off, I would like to thank you all for being so patient with me as I have not posted these last couple of days. Yes, my birthday was very relaxing and thank you to those who recognized that. So in light of the fact that I have been gone for a few days. Here is a brand new chapter for you all!:)**

**Oh, and here's the disclaimer…Warren, say it already.**

**Warren: Grr. Fine, Camille does not own Sky High or any of its affiliates. There you happy?**

**Camille: Peachy! One with the story.**

Chapter 8:

"Hey, Lexi!"

"Lookin' good, Lexi!"

"Lexi! You were awesome yesterday!"

To say I was taken back was a bit of an understatement.

When I walked into school the next morning, I didn't completely shun the idea that I would receive some form of attention regarding yesterday's victory at 'Save the Citizen'. However, I didn't expect that I would be on the receiving end of a bombardment of nice comments, thusly mentioned above, from people I had never actually spoken to in the time I had been at Sky High.

"This is new." Layla stated, as we walked past another group of people, each of them calling out my name and greeting me.

"New, indeed." I agreed through a polite smile as I waved in return to those waving at me. "Come on, let's get inside."

We were almost up the front steps of the school when a perky, short, blonde ran into my path, waving at me excitedly. I waved at her as well while I sidestepped to continue up the steps, thinking that a polite wave would satisfy the girl. But the girl simply skipped up the steps alongside us, and started to speak.

"Good morning! I'm Ellie Woods, editor of the school newspaper and just wanted to congratulate you on your victory from yesterday." She said brightly, grabbing my hand and shaking it vigorously.

"Oh, thanks, I guess." I said, once I extricated my hand from hers.

Next thing I know, she had whipped out a small notepad and pencil and started to scribble things down. I stopped in the middle of the stairs, while Will and Layla continued up the stairs, unaware that I had stopped. I looked around, wondering if anyone knew how to somehow evade this, while Ellie started to chatter again.

"….and I was wondering if I could get an interview from you!"

"Interview?" I repeated, making a face.

"Of course!" She squeaked. "Everyone at Sky High wants to know about you, Lexi Storm: daughter of two of Maxville's greatest heroes, controller of electricity, powerful enough to be a superhero and be the first Freshman to win 'Save the Citizen', yet somehow ended up as a sidekick!" Her voice was like a scandalized gasp as she moved her hands out in front of her, stating my name like it were a Broadway marquis.

It creeped me out at first, considering that Ellie had just stated a number of facts about me that I didn't think anyone, aside from myself and my friends, knew. But then again, she was the editor of the school newspaper, a natural snoop and journalist. Of course she would know this stuff.

"So what do you say?" She asked, sounding like she assumed I would jump at the chance for an interview but had to ask for the common courtesy of asking.

I slowly shook my head and took a step up on the stairs. "I think I am going to have to pass on that one, Ellie."

"Wait!" She protested, before containing herself. "I mean….are you sure?"

"I am very sure. But thanks for asking anyways." With that, I turned on my heel and ran up the steps towards Will and Layla, ignoring the rest of her protests.

"What was that about?" Will asked curiously, looking behind me at the confused looking Ellie.

I shrugged and took the lead up into school. "Apparently, the school newspaper would love to hear about me."

"Well, aren't you just Miss Popular!" Layla teased, nudging my elbow.

I rolled my eyes and knocked my elbow into hers. "Perks of being the first Freshmen to win 'Save the Citizen'." I said, saying the words that should somehow inflate my pride in the slightest bit with a sarcastic bite.

"So what did you tell her?" Will asked.

"What do you think I told her? You of all people should know that I don't need the attention anymore than what I was getting before 'Save the Citizen'. Besides, I don't think I would like my life story printed out for the whole school to see." I stated.

Will and Layla nodded their heads understandingly. They knew that I didn't like attention as much as others would. I suppose that was where Will and I differed. If anything, he wishes he could have that popularity his parents had in high school and still have to this day.

"Wait, if they asked you, do you think they asked Warren Peace as well?" Layla asked.

I shook my head at that. "I would think not."

"Why?"

I opened my mouth to explain why, when I was interrupted by a couple of short shrieks and scurrying feet. The three of us looked to our right where a slightly enflamed Warren Peace sat, glaring at a group of people who looked as though they were trying to approach him with the same nice comments they were giving me.

I nodded in his direction. "That's why."

People should know better than to think that one 'Save the Citizen' game would change a personality. Sadly, it doesn't work like that. I still don't like attention shoved in my face and Warren is still bent on singeing a few rear ends if you don't leave him be.

Just then, Warren glanced up in our direction as people slowly backed away from him. He caught my eye and the edge of his lip twitched. I nodded my head and gave a subtle wave, to which he nodded his head once before grabbing his backpack and heading off in the opposite direction.

All of a sudden, Layla brought a sharp slap onto my arm.

"Ah!" I shrieked, rubbing the spot she had so violently slapped, soothingly. "What in the world was that for, Layla?"

"What was that?" She asked, ignoring my question.

"What was what?"

"That!" She said, pointing in the direction where Warren had walked off.

"Am I not allowed to wave at people?" I asked slowly.

"No, are you and Warren, like…friends, now?" Will chimed in, sounding unsure of what word to label.

"Believe it or not, Will, I don't think so. But considering he was part of the reason we won 'Save the Citizen', I believe that entitles him to some form of recognition on my part. After all, he may dislike a number of things at this school, but he does accept common courtesy when it comes his way." I explained, just as the warning bell sounded and Will and Layla had no other choice but be satisfied with my reasoning.

So on that note, we set off on another day at Sky High, passing through our classes as best as we could. Though today seemed a little bit harder for me to apply myself, considering every time I walked into class I was greeted by a teacher congratulating me on my victory and if I hadn't jumped in on time with my constant redirection of the class discussion, we probably wouldn't have had enough time for our actual lesson plans for the day.

But fortunately, my small amount of relief arrived around lunch time.

"You should have just let Mr. Medulla keep talking about you otherwise we wouldn't have to do tonight's homework." Zach complained to me as we fell into the lunch line.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, hush, Zach. You act like it's going to kill you to write the essay on radioactive spiders."

"It is!"

"Would you prefer actual radioactive spiders then?" I asked, peering up at him from over my shoulder.

He opened his mouth but stopped himself from replying too hastily as the option settled in his head. Zach snapped his mouth shut and shook his head. "Ok, no. I'll stick with the writing."

The rest of us chuckled at him as we continued on down the line, picking up our preferences for lunch and paying for them soon after. I waited for a moment at the edge of the cafeteria, as the rest of our group paid for their lunches, and perused around for an empty lunch table. I nearly had my eye on one when someone suddenly obstructed my view, causing me to feel slightly confused when I realized who it was.

"Hey, Lexi." Gwen Grayson chirped, with a bright smile.

My eyebrows knitted together. "Er, hi Gwen…and Penny, right?" I said, seeing the somewhat familiar cheerleader standing behind Gwen.

"Did you guys need something?"I asked slowly.

Penny nudged Gwen and the two shared look of mutual understanding.

"Well, Penny and I were wondering if you would like to join us for lunch today. We have an open spot at our table." Gwen said, gesturing to their said table near the nicer parts of the lunch room, where the rest of their group of friends sat waving at me, practically inviting me over.

I politely smiled and waved back before looking at Gwen and Penny, both of which wore assuming smiles on their faces. This was one of those instances when I realized what instant popularity does for a person. But, I knew that there was no honest liking behind Penny and Gwen's invitation.

"Look, that's really nice of you guys, but I'm already sitting with my friends." I broke it to them as nicely as I could, glancing at my friends standing behind me with a smile. They smiled back at me, as their silent way of telling me they were happy I wasn't abandoning them.

Penny's smile dropped and she wore an appalled look on her face as she looked at Layla and my friends. Gwen, on the other hand, looked strangely calm, not in the least bit offended. I was disconcerted by it to say the least.

"Oh, alright, Lexi. We'll see you around then." Gwen said, before walking off, leading a protesting Penny off with her.

I stared after their figures before they disappeared in the sea of students in the cafeteria. I was struck with my suspicion of Gwen after seeing her striking resemblance to the Sue Tenney in my parents' yearbook. Before, I was somehow convinced that she was just a generally likeable person but now, I found there was something suspicious behind her smile and strangely easy going nature.

I just didn't know what, exactly.

"Hey," Layla's voice pulled me out of my reverie. "We found a table over here, let's go."

I numbly nodded to Layla before following her.

"Hey, are you alright?" She asked, slowing her pace down so she was walking beside me.

"Yeah, just fine." I said, looking behind me once more at Gwen and Penny's table.

"Did you want to sit with them?" Layla asked quietly.

I whipped my head back around. "No! Of course not! Are you crazy!" I told her, surprised she would even think I would ditch her and everyone else. "It's just…" I started, about to explain to her what I saw but trailed off as we arrived at our table. "I'll tell you later."

"Where's Will?" Magenta asked, not seeing our Stronghold friend anywhere.

"Oh, he went to a different line for lunch. Apparently, not in the mood for…" Layla paused and glanced at our plates. "Whatever this is…"

"Oh! I found him!" Ethan called out, pointing down the cafeteria where Will was walking in our general direction but hadn't seen us just yet.

"Will! Over here, man!" Zach added, beckoning Will over to us.

"Yeah! I saved you a pudding cup!" Ethan chimed happily, holding the said pudding cup in the air.

We all smiled at Ethan's thoughtfulness, but our smiles were soon wiped away when the pudding cup was suddenly torn from Ethan's hand.

"Speed." We collectively groaned and saw him standing not too far away, already digging a spoon into the pudding.

Lash stood beside him, appreciating his friends' antics before glancing over at our table, his eyes zeroing at me in particular. I met his gaze immediately, feeling odd as his eyes were not scathing or anything like they usually are, they were simply just looking at me.

"What's their problem?" Layla asked, glaring at the pair and sounding exasperated from having to deal with them on a daily basis.

"Still sour from losing to Lexi yesterday." Magenta said.

To that we all agreed.

To say that the two seniors took their loss well would be a lie. Actually, both of them had to spend some time in Nurse Spex's office after the game to recuperate from a few bumps and burns. They weren't happy campers….at all.

I hardly broke my stare with Lash till I watched him lean over to Speed and whisper something to him underneath his breath. And with my experience of seeing that, I was aware that nothing good was going to come of the next couple of minutes.

And I was right.

Lash turned to me, winked and mouthed. "Watch this."

I had no time question anything at all before he suddenly extended his arm and weaved it around underneath the tables till his hand grasped onto an unsuspecting Will's ankle.

Now, what happened in the next couple of minutes is what made me think that my relief from being under the attention scope came during our lunch period. Unfortunately, I didn't exactly mention that it was because attention would have been placed elsewhere.

For as soon as Will shouted out in surprise, his lunch was flung out of his arms…and right onto Warren Peace, who, by the way, wasn't in the best of moods.

_Why do I have a feeling that wasn't simply coincidence?_ I thought to myself, when I saw Warren's head slowly rise up, bits and pieces of Will's lunch rolling off his head as he did so.

Our entire table, and the whole cafeteria (I feel I should add), fell quiet and turned to look at the scene. Will slowly got up, still groaning from his fall, but when he looked up and realized who had taken the dashing of his lunch, Will gulped, fearful and horrified.

"Uh….Sorry?" He stammered.

Warren growled, his hands clenching into fists as he stood up. "You will be."

"This can't be good." Layla muttered from beside me.

Will's hands shot up in surrender. "L-Let's not do this, ok?"

"You think that you can do anything you want just because your name is Stronghold?" Warren grumbled, his obvious distaste with Will's family appearing. I could see his fists starting to glow a warm red hue.

"Look, I'm sorry my dad put your dad in jail, but—" Will started, making me internally face palm at his lack of awareness for his words.

But Warren was quick to make sure Will was aware.

"Nobody talks about my father." Warren stated his voice low and threatening, grabbing Will by the front of his shirt.

"Uh oh." I mumbled.

"Ah!" Will shrieked, as Warren's fists burst into flames far too close to Will's face.

"Ah! It's so on!" Lash said, finding the whole situation completely entertaining and satisfactory. I momentarily scowled at him for his childishness before having to stand up as people started to scatter out of Warren's way.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Cheers started to resound about the cafeteria as Warren aimed a fireball at Will's head. Luckily, Will had grabbed a lunch tray to protect him in time, but I couldn't say the same for the tray, as it was reduced to melted bits.

Layla, her worry pushing itself to forefront of her mind, turned to an oblivious Mr. Boy, who was aimlessly sipping from a soda cup. "Mr. Boy! Do something!"

Mr. Boy looked around him and instantly dropped his soda, realizing the situation.

"Got it!" He shouted before bolting out of the cafeteria. "Principal Powers! Principal Powers!"

Layla and I shared a mutual look of worry, hoping that this fight wouldn't get too out of hand before someone powerful enough came around to stop it. But in the mean time, we'd have to settle for making sure Will didn't get himself hurt too bad.

Will dropped the destroyed lunch tray and frantically looked about him for some means of escape. But Warren wasn't giving him the chance to dodge or even tuck and roll as fireballs were violently chucked at Will one right after another, missing Will but destroying parts of the cafeteria. Will's eyes darted around till he found the fire alarm on the other side of the cafeteria.

Immediately, he darted for it but was tripped once more by means of Lash's interfering appendage.

I narrowed my eyes at him as he started to pull his arm back to him. I growled as it came my way and I none to nicely stomped on his hand with the heel of my Converse. I smirked appreciatively when I heard him yelp and yank his arm away. I didn't have to look to know he was staring at me. I just knew.

"Lexi, look!" Layla said, calling my attention back to the fight.

In the meantime, Will had crawled underneath a lunch table and Warren was perched on top of it, blazing up the sides of the table so Will couldn't crawl out. When they reached the end of the table, Will was thoroughly trapped with no way to get out.

"Where's your sidekicks, sidekick?"Warren jeered at Will.

"Right here!" Zach cried out from beside us and stepping forward bravely.

"Yeah!" Ethan added, before gulping and joining Zach's side.

Magenta and Layla stepped forward too, but said nothing. I hadn't stepped forward, not because I was afraid or not worried for Will, but because I knew that if any more people crossed Warren it really wouldn't make anything better. But Layla wasn't thinking like I was, actually I think she was more concerned about Will, and yanked me forward.

Warren seemed somewhat pleased to have more targets, though he eyed me doubtfully, before growling again and throwing his arms out to engulf them in an intense flame. I looked at my friends, who were all instantly afraid and aware that they didn't stand a chance, and I readied myself in case I had to throw a force field around us.

But I didn't have to, as I would soon come to realize.

"Leave them alone!" Will ground out, his instinct for protecting his friends came out as he braced his hands against the bottom of the table.

Then he did something no one was expecting.

Will, scrawny-armed Will, suddenly lifted the table clean off the ground, Warren still standing on top of it.

The cafeteria's egging on of the fight died away as cheers with Will's name in them started to gain momentum. Will looked shocked at first before he looked up at the table and back at us, reassured that this really was him.

"He's strong." Layla stated breathlessly as she gazed at him.

"I'm strong?" Will called out, disbelievingly.

"Will! You're strong!" I shouted with much more encouraging enthusiasm.

With that further encouragement, Will pushed harder on the table and threw it off to the side, sending Warren along with it. He then turned to the flabbergasted pair of Lash and Speed, whose eyes were no longer amused by the sight they had indirectly caused.

"So which one of you tripped me?" He asked. Speed ran off and Lash lifted himself onto a banister in the ceiling, both fearing for their own rear ends.

"Stronghold!" The voice of Warren growled from beneath the destroyed pieces of the lunch table.

Behind Will, Warren shoved the remaining pieces of wood off of himself before standing up and flaming himself up even more, his anger fueling the pulsing flames. Slowly, we backed away from Will, who turned around once more with some hint of confidence and took up a funny looking fighting stance. And before anyone could react, Warren barreled towards Will, who, still a rookie with his new powers, swung his fist out to punch Warren in the gut. Now, if it were any other person to throw that punch, it might have looked wimpy and have no effect on Warren whatsoever. But considering Will's recent development in powers, the punch may have looked weak but it was powerful enough to throw Warren through a wall and into the teacher's lounge.

Will turned to us, hopeful that that was the end of that, and started to walk over. However, our hopes were once again dampened when Warren, covered in plaster, climbed through the hole he made in the wall.

"Think I can't take a hit, Stronghold?" He said, his flames flickering almost out of control.

Will backed up slowly, while I pulled my friends up against the wall and out of the way. Will looked around for something to throw, probably looking for variety aside from just throwing punches because obviously Warren is strong enough (and angry enough) to withstand them.

As I stood further back, my elbow knocked into something. I looked down to see a fire extinguisher and without a second thought, I took it off the wall.

"Will!" I shouted and tossed him the fire extinguisher.

He fumbled with the fire extinguisher, fumbling even more as Warren started walking towards him. The rest of stood their shouting at him, telling him to pull on the pin that holds the extinguisher closed. But Will was blundering around too much to do even that. But in the last minute, he simply grabbed the top of the extinguisher and ripped the top off cleanly, and sprayed Warren down with the foam just as he was about to jump him.

Everyone sighed in relief.

That is until everyone realized Principal Powers was standing right there.

Happy? Nope.

**Enjoy? I hope so! Not much Lash and Lexi stuff in this chapter but I promise you there is in the next one! I love you all and hope you can find it in your gracious hearts to review!:)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey, everyone! Here is the next chapter. But before I can give it to you, I must give a cursed disclaimer, so here to do it is everyone's favorite coach!**

**Boomer: CAMILLE DOES NOT OWN ANYTHING THAT IS RELATED TO OR LINKED WITH SKY HIGH? CLEAR?**

**Magenta: *cringing* Does he have to yell it every time?**

**Lexi: I'm sure it makes him feel a whole lot more important and accomplished when he does.**

**Boomer: I heard that Storm! Detention.**

**Lexi: What!**

**Camille: Anyhoots, here's thy chapter!:) Excuse me, I have to go contain an angry electric conductor. *runs off* Lexi! Don't touch those wires!**

Chapter 9:

"Guys! After these last two days, hasn't it occurred to anyone that both Lexi and Will have made sidekick history?" Zach asked, when we arrived at Hero Support class the next day.

It was true that the last two days' worth of fiascos have made a major mark in everyone's mind. But none of us had really considered that little fact until Zach brought it up because most of us were concerned with other things that resulted of the last two days.

For Will, it had been the fact that when he returned home yesterday he was more than excited to tell his parents the great news (about his powers, not the detention and fight part), so much so that he ripped his front door right off the hinges. Unfortunately, his mom was none too pleased with the fighting and detention part, but his dad was more than pleased that his son got his end of the super genes, even rewarding Will with a brand new X-Box…that was confiscated on account of his mother though.

For me, it had been the sheer satisfaction that in a small period time, both Will and I, two students who happened to be misjudged by most of the school, had practically showed up Lash and Speed and Coach Boomer. I was more satisfied with the Coach Boomer bit, because now, he has to dignify his stupid 'my judgment is final' speech to the teaching staff and pretty much the student body who now think he's mental for placing me and Will as sidekicks. That alone makes me smile.

But I suppose now, according to Zach's words, Will and I have become some sort of landmark in sidekick history.

"Yeah, think about it!" Ethan said. "From now on, people will mess with us at their own risk!"

Will and I looked at each other, internally doubting our effect was that major. Sure, people look at us differently, but we surely didn't want them to be afraid of us.

Layla saw our doubtful looks and slung her arms across our shoulders. "Oh, lighten up you two. Think about it this way: you two are breaking down barriers, showing that we aren't heroes or sidekicks." There was her optimistic side again.

"We're just people." Magenta added.

"Super people." I confirmed with a few small nods of my head. I looked around at my friends, each of them smiling warmly at me.

Our conversation was put on hold as the bell rang and Mr. Boy came in, shutting the door behind him.

"Morning class, please take you seats." He said and we all complied. Mr. Boy cracked his briefcase open and started to take out handouts. "We have lots to cover day, starting with the basics of motorcycle sidecars."

We all took out our binders as per our usual routine for taking notes, but Mr. Boy stopped Will from doing so.

"Except for you, Mr. Stronghold."

The rest of the class looked up confused as Mr. Boy held a small stack of papers in his hands.

"Would gather your belongings and come up here, please?" Mr. Boy asked.

Will looked at Layla and I before slowly doing as he was told and cautiously walked up to the front. I attempted to think up a possible list of reasons as to why Will was being called up and came up empty handed. They already gave him detention for yesterday, what else was there?

"I've got your new class schedule for you." Mr. Boy told him, handing him a slip of paper.

I look over at Layla. _New class schedule? _She mouths to me, to which I can only shrug.

Will looked up at Mr. Boy, unsure of what to do. "Mr. Boy…"

"Congratulations, Will. You have been transferred to the Hero class." Mr. Boy explains to him, sadness lacing itself through Mr. Boy's forced enthusiastic voice.

Will looks shocked for a moment before a smile stretched across his face. He was finally getting what he wanted and what he believed he deserved. He turned to leave the room, staring down at his new schedule before Mr. Boy stopped him.

"By the way, Will, if you ever need any hero support. I still do a little free lance." Mr. Boy told him as a parting gift.

Will thanked him and was about to leave against, but stopped short and turned around to look at us. I had small moment where I sarcastically thanked him for not forgetting us.

"But what about them?" He asked, gesturing to us.

"We'll see you on the bus." Layla said, smiling as best as she could for Will, though she did seem a bit down.

"We'll hang out at lunch, too." I added, with my one half-hearted smile. I'll be honest, Will was lucky to be transferred to the Hero class, but I can't help but wonder where that puts the rest of us.

"Yeah, right after you've dunked Ethan's head in the toilet." Zach muttered, half-jokingly and half-bitterly. Magenta turned around and chucked her pen at his head, making him shut up real quick. There was no secret that Zach felt sidekicks were sometimes victimized by arrogant heroes of our age.

But we didn't need Will feeling guilty for leaving us and going to be a hero. We are his friends and we would do well to support him.

"Well," Mr. Boy said, interrupting our sending off of our best friends. "You best get a move on."

Mr. Boy directed Will to the door but Will kept stopping and sending nervous looks over to us. Finally, Layla and I rolled our eyes before calling out to him. "Just go already!"

And like that. Will was off being a hero. He'd have to tell us about it later, maybe another one of our rooftop chats. But till then, the now remaining five us had to sit through a lecture on motorcycle sidecars, a now empty seat in the middle of Layla and I. As Mr. Boy continued onwards, trying to make 'sidecar safety' sound somewhat enthralling, the five of us sat aimlessly staring at the board. None of us were aware of that at the time, until Mr. Boy stopped in the middle of the lesson to ask us what was wrong.

But as the saying goes we were, 'saved by the bell'.

"…So when we are on the road, are we not supposed to turn on the lock that chains the sidecar to the motorcycle?" Zach wondered out loud on our way to the cafeteria. It was just four of us right now, as Ethan needed to have a quick restroom break before he joined us for lunch.

We looked at him weirdly for actually listening to the lesson…somewhat.

"No, you have to turn on the lock, otherwise your sidecar gets detached from your hero's motorcycle." Magenta explained, a new flatness settling in on her voice.

"And that would defeat the purpose." I added on, falling once again into the monotonous lunch line.

We paid for our lunches and started to look around for an empty table, one that would be easy to direct Will to whenever he arrived to lunch from his new classes and the same for Ethan when he got back from the bathroom. As I looked around, my eyes fell on the gaping hole in the wall that was still left form yesterday's fight and I said silent prayer hoping that today's lunch would be somewhat normal, considering everything eventful usually happens at lunch for us (don't ask me why, it just does).

But a harsh shove to my back told me I was mistaken and the fact that my lunch tray had now flipped its contents, chili cheese fries, all over my baseball t-shirt told me I was _sadly _mistaken.

I gasped and looked down at the tray and immediately looked up, searching for the person who had so kindly caused this. My eyes widened then narrowed as they settled onto the dark skinned cheerleader, Penny, who was wearing an aggravating and self-satisfied smirk as she slid into the table I had been invited to yesterday, that I had no idea I was standing in front of.

"Whoops. My bad." Penny shrugged nonchalantly as everyone at the table, the 'popular table' I assume if you want to use labels, started to snicker at the messy stains on my shirt.

I heard Layla, Magenta, and Zach gasp at what just happened and I felt a flush warm at my face. If I wasn't one for attention, I obviously wasn't one for embarrassment. The snickering slowly got louder as I just stood there, gripping the tray tightly in my hands and my eyes screwed shut as I tried to keep my emotions in check, because if I didn't I'd be making the electric bill shoot up. But I had reached my breaking point when I heard Penny mutter, "loser" underneath her breath. And despite my efforts, the lights in the cafeteria still started to flicker and I suddenly slammed my tray down at the end of the table, a long wave of blue electric bolts running down the table, cutting off all laughter as the bolts riveted through everyone's tray and spilt their lunches all over the place.

And before anyone could say anything else, I marched out of the cafeteria, needing to get out of my dirty shirt.

The hallways were nearly empty, save for the few people who gave me funny looks as I stormed past them, no pun on my name there. When I reached my locker, I yanked it open, looking for forgotten sweater or something to cover me up for the rest of the day, for I would not be smelling like chili cheese fries when I walked into Mad Science next period.

"Hey, Lexi! Wait up!" Someone called out to me from down the hall, making me stop in the middle of me digging through my neat locker.

I peered around my locker door, rolling my eyes and inwardly groaning at the sight of Lash running down the hall towards me. He was the last person I wanted to see me like this. Not that, I needed to look good in front of him, I just…it's generally embarrassing, my current predicament, alright!

Lash stopped right beside my open locker door and he leaned against as he caught his breath. I turned my body inward towards my locker, not needing him to see my shirt at the moment, while my eyes darted around for something, anything to cover up.

"Lexi, hey." He said, looking around my locker door. "I saw what happened in the cafeteria and—"

"And you came here to laugh at me, right?" I asked, pondering the possibility of using my Mad Science book to up my shirt during the conversation but shoved that thought away as I thought a chili cheese fries' stain looked much better than an enlarged picture of a psychotic scientist pouring nuclear waste on a rat.

"No, of course not." He stated solidly and quickly, making me look at him incredulously before he continued quietly, "I know how Penny can be. I actually came to see if you were alright."

I sighed. "I suppose I am. But I am not biased to smelling like chili cheese fries today and I can't find anything in my locker to change into." I huffed exasperatedly, not caring that Lash was right there as I lightly banged my head against my locker door.

As I rested my head against the door, I faintly heard the some rustling and felt Lash's hands softly pull me away from my locker as he shut it.

"Here," I looked up to find him handing me his black and white jumper, now just exposing his usual striped arms and purple shirt. "Take my jumper." He said.

I didn't take it but stared at it uncertainly. "Why?"

"Because, I may think you are pretty, but like you said, chili cheese fries does not work for you." He insisted, giving me one of the first glimpses of a light-hearted smile as he held out his jumper to me.

Slowly but surely, I took it from his hands, his fingertips lightly brushing mine, making a funny little tingle appear in my hands and I can assure you it wasn't from my powers this time. I gulped, as a flush ran down the back of my neck, and licked my lips before I told him I was going to the bathroom to change. I swiftly walked around him and went into the bathroom near my locker.

I quickly stripped out of my stained shirt and launched it into one of the sinks so I could rinse it when I was done changing. I stared at Lash's jumper for a bit before finally pulling it over my head, a sweet smell filling my nostrils as the material ran over my nose. It was warm and smelled like cinnamon and apples, something I usually smell during Christmas time at home. I cursed the blush that appeared after my head peeked out of the jumper and pushed my arms through the incredibly long sleeves. I combed my hair down and looked at my reflection in the mirror, realizing how much smaller I was compared to Lash. The sleeves reached the tips of my fingers if I didn't roll of the sleeves a bit and the bottom hem hung near the middle of my thighs, but although it was big, it felt comfortable and nice.

"Lexi, are you ok in there?" Lash knocked on the door, making me jump from my admiration of the new clothing. I responded to Lash with the positive before quickly rinsing my shirt out as best as I could and finally left the bathroom.

When I exited, shirt in hand, Lash was leaning against the wall by the bathroom door, still patiently waiting.

"Wow." He said, looking me up and down appreciatively. "You look nice in my clothes."

I gave a small smile. "It's nice of you to let me borrow it, thoughtful even." I said, as I yanked my locker door open once more to hang up my wet shirt, to dry till the end of the day.

"You sound so amazed."

I looked at him from around my locker door. "Don't you live to see my friends' and my own embarrassment?"

"I find it amusing at times, but I don't want to make everyone's lives a living hell."

I gave him a skeptical look while shutting my locker door and spinning the lock. I started on down the hallway, thinking I should at least try and have something for lunch, plus Layla would be worrying about me, if not, wanting me there to hear Will's stories about hero classes.

"Ok, fine." Lash admitted, walking beside me. "Maybe sometimes, I do make people's lives hell."

"That's an understatement."

"But I don't want to make your life one."

I gave him a sidelong glance. "Why is that? Besides, I would think you are still holding a grudge against me for the whole 'Save the Citizen' thing."

He cringed at the memory, making me smirk proudly.

"Sure I was mad for a bit, but really, it was at Peace for burning me. But I am uh…slowly getting over it." He sighed as we continued walking.

"Speed is the one you really pissed off though, he complained about all day yesterday. Besides, I told you that I am capable of being a nice guy." He shrugged, tucking his hands away into his pockets.

I shook my head, recalling the first time he mentioned those words, and quietly muttered, "And I am starting to believe it."

Lash stopped walking. "Are you?" He asked, having heard me.

I sighed and stopped to turn to him as well. "Well, sort of. You haven't exactly given me much to reconsider my opinion about you on." Lash gave me a look that asked me to enlighten him on the details that supported my words. "Look, you may have let me borrow your jumper today and made sure I was alright, and for that I am very thankful. But I won't say that this somehow overshadows the less than noble things I have seen you do. Because it doesn't, Lash."

He seemed disheartened by my words as he ducked his head of brown hair towards the ground. "You're going to make me prove it, aren't you?"

"I never said that. But if you feel obligated to, then feel free to try and prove me wrong." I said, facing the entry doors to the cafeteria, looking around for my friends, and seeing them all still gathered by the 'popular table'. "It'd be a fantastic change of scene for me, if you catch my flow." I added on, not fully intending to have though.

Lash gave a low laugh from beside me before he straightened up all of a sudden and grabbed my shoulders, turning me to face him. He looked strangely determined, and not in the way that used to make me feel unsettled. Actually, it looked quite adorable on his face….ANYWAYS!

"Fine. Challenge accepted." He stated, staring at me deeply and giving me the second glimpse of his light hearted smile (twice in one day, fantastic). I wonder if he had any idea how nice his smile was if he wasn't smirking all the time. At that thought, a tiny grin touched my lips.

Sadly the spell was broken, as two bodies came barreling down the hall, one being chased the other the chaser. I squinted my eyes as they drew closer and instantly recognized the orange track jacket.

"Ethan?" I asked out loud.

Sure enough, my dark skinned friend whipped his head around, a frantic look on his face as he pushed himself to run a little bit faster, a trail of water following him.

"Speed?" Lash called out.

I peered around Lash to see Speed, actually running at human speed, but still after Ethan nonetheless. He was up to his old freshmen tormenting.

"Get back here, Popsicle. Your swirly isn't finished yet!" Speed shouted.

Both of them burst through Lash and I, pushing us to either side of the door as brought their chase into the cafeteria. Lash and I glanced at one another before realizing that both of those were our friends and bolted into the cafeteria right behind them. When we ran in, Ethan was already huddled behind Will and my group of friends, with Speed standing in front showing no intention of leaving them alone. We ran towards the group, strategically weaving in between the tables so it looked like we hadn't come in together.

"Lexi! Where have you been?" Layla asked, noticing me coming around the back of the group first. She looked at Lash's jumper curiously. "Where did you get the jumper?"

"Er…found it? Never mind, what is going on?"

"Speed gave Ethan another swirly and chased him here."

"Oh, I see." I looked at her, to see her cheeks tinged a quaint little color of pink. "Why are you blushing?" I asked, despite it being irrelevant to the current situation.

Layla's hands shot up to cover her cheeks. "It's umm…well, Will said…he err…I'll tell you later."

I raised an eyebrow at her stuttering, knowing that after all these years there was only one thing that could make Layla blush like a tomato. And with that in mind, I swore to hold her to that promise, before returning my attention to Ethan as he made a very brave comment to Speed and Lash.

"Not so tough when my boy is around, huh?"

Will's eyes widened when he figure out that Ethan was talking about him.

Speed's eyes narrowed as he took a step forward. "You just think you're all big and bad now, don't you, Stronghold?" he asked, jabbing a finger into Will's chest.

"N-no, I-I don't." Will said, not wanting to be used as Ethan's human shield or personal body guard, but it didn't seem like Zach or Ethan understood that.

"Please! Haven't you learned your lesson? If Lexi can take you, Will can too!" Zach said, reaching behind him to pull me forward, much to my own reluctance.

I sharply jabbed my elbow into Zach's side. I didn't want to be dragged into this too.

"Didn't you see what happened to Warren? Let alone to yourself?"

Speed growled and took another threatening step forward. Lash could sense his friend's antagonism rising and reached one of his arms forward to grab onto Speed's shoulder tightly.

"You better watch yourself Stronghold, that big mouth of yours is going to get you and your little lightening haired friend in a whole lot of trouble." Speed grit out, glaring at both of us and clenching his fists threateningly.

"But we didn't even say anything." Will stammered.

Will gulped and glanced at Zach and Ethan while I managed a small weak glare at them. I couldn't be completely angry with them, as they looked at Will and I as the only people that made them to not seem like they were at the bottom of the high school food chain. But like Speed said, by the grace of their big mouths I am now in the middle of an incoming fight that I really don't wish to be a part of.

"Why don't we settle this in—" Speed started.

But Lash, who hadn't spoken at all during this whole ordeal, interrupted his friend. "No, Speed."

"What?" Everyone suddenly chorused together, giving Lash incredulous, wide-eyed looks, including myself.

Lash looked at all of our stunned faces, realizing his words, before clearing his throat awkwardly. "Er…I mean, not now, Speed. They aren't even worth it, so you shouldn't waste your time."

"Besides, there's a whole long line of freshmen we haven't given the obligatory swirly this year, anyways." Lash added, to appease his friend even more.

Speed looked at Lash, unsure of what just happened. But still did hear and consider his words. After all, Lash was right, they'd been harassing up for a few months that the rest of the Freshmen class hasn't gotten a taste of the dynamic duo and Speed could never live with that. So after a short amount of imbalanced deliberation, Speed finally let out a defeated puff of air and turned to us, a lighter glare still fixated on his face.

"Fine. It's your lucky day, sidekicks." He told us. "But you better be watching your backs." He said.

Speed shed one more warning look on us before Lash turned him around by his shoulder and started to lead him way. But Lash turned his head the slightest bit and shot me a subtle glance. When he knew I had caught it, he turned back around and walked off, taking up his usual confident sauntering as his reputation would have him do.

"Did Lash just…." Layla asked, to our group who was still confounded by the recent turn of events.

"I think he did." I answered her unfinished question.

"But…why?" Magenta asked.

Why was an appropriate question and I won't deny that I was wondering the same thing. Although, I think I can gladly say I have some sort of idea as to why, exactly.

"Who cares!" Zach exclaimed. "I think that just saved Ethan, here from a few more swirlies this semester!"

Ethan looked heavenward and put his hands together in a prayer like fashion. "Yes! The toilet dunking must end!"

The tenseness and confusion of the situation died away and we all shared a small laugh with Ethan before getting him back on his feet. We decided to salvage what little time left of lunch we had left and returned to the table, but I quickly remembered that Layla has something I have secretly obligated her to telling me, so I grabbed her hand and sat her down in front of me, a little of ways from the rest of the group, but none of them really noticed as Zach was engaging them in some story.

"Alright. Speak. Now." I told her.

Layla didn't need anymore encouragement as she immediately complied. She told me that soon after I left the cafeteria, Gwen and Will had arrived at the lunch table. Apparently, Will was invited to the said 'popular table' but when Will asked if the rest of them could join, Penny was quick to say that she didn't want them around. I wasn't surprised at that one, especially coming from the girl who dumped my lunch on me. And Will, being the generally nice boy he is, felt bad for his friends being treated in that fashion, especially Layla, and wanted to make it up to her…personally.

"Wait, I thought Will hated Chinese food." I said, after she told me he'd meet her at the Paper Lantern, Layla's favorite restaurant despite Will's distaste with Chinese food.

Layla shrugged. "I thought that too. But he insisted."

"Awww! He's stomaching his least favorite food for you!"

Layla flushed again. "Oh be quiet. He's just doing it to make up for Penny. Besides, I know he wanted to sit with them."

"So? What does that matter right now? He's finally taking you out on a date."

Layla reached across the table and swatted my arm, her blush growing bigger. "It's not a date." She insisted in a hushed voice.

"Right. But did he invite a third party? I think not."

"Fine. Why don't you come and join us?"

"Paper Lantern. Eight o'clock?" I paused and feigned pensiveness. "Can't."

"Why not?" Layla asked.

"Busy." I said simply, while getting up from the table to leave even though the bell hasn't rung yet.

"With what, exactly?" Layla asked, skeptical that I was actually busy tonight.

"Stuff." I called over my shoulder as I left the cafeteria.

"Lexi!" She cried out after me.

"Have fun!" I threw back, making her settle with the fact that I am busy tonight.

And to be honest, I really wasn't but I had been waiting for years for Will and Layla to somehow get together. I am getting a little sick and tired of watching Layla pine after an oblivious Will, so with crossed fingers tonight will finally be some altering milestone in our trio. And I was not going to let Layla tank her chances by letting me tag along. What kind of friend would I be?

_I need to let things play out by themselves._ I thought to myself. _**Without any intervention whatsoever.**_

Pfft. Sure.

**Hmmm? Is Lexi going to stick to her promise? Maybe. See you all in the next chapter! Review if you will **


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey, everyone! Brand new chapter heading your way As usual, I do not own anything Sky High or relatable to it. Sadly.**

**Lexi: I hate Penny.**

**Camille: I am sure you do, but she will get her comeuppance.**

**Lexi: Comeuppance?**

**Camille: Never mind. Anyways, you should be thinking more about Lash right now than my fairly out of date lingo.**

**Lexi: Wait, lash? What about him?**

**Lash: Yeah! What about me!**

**Camille: Er…gotta go!**

Chapter 10:

You aren't allowed to be angry with me.

I will say that and enforce it now.

I know I swore I wouldn't interfere with Will and Layla's little "date". And I'm not…really. I seriously attempted to stay up in my room after school and do something productive with my time. I swear I did. I completed tonight's homework and even completed the Mad Science essay that is supposed to be next week. Therefore no one can say that I didn't try to keep myself involved in something other than my friends' business.

But, when I said that I wouldn't physically interfere, I never said that I wouldn't be there to watch.

"Hey Mom!" I called on my way down the stairs, slinging my bag over my shoulder. "May have your full permission to go tonight?" I asked, when I came into the kitchen, where my mom was toiling over a boiling pot of noodles, though didn't look like she was at all.

She flicked a runaway piece of her blonde hair out of her eyes before looking at me. "Why? Where are you going?"

"Just the uhh…Paper Lantern, to meet up with some friends."

"Oh. Were you planning on staying for dinner over there? Because I was planning on cooking your favorite for dinner tonight." She said, going back to stirring her spoon in the pot.

Sure enough, when I went over to the stove and took a peek into one of the pots, there were the full ingredients for fettuccini alfredo already cooking away. My stomach immediately grumbled and I momentarily reconsidered going to the Paper Lantern. But I was proud to say that I didn't succumb to my food cravings and made myself stick to going to the Paper Lantern.

"Yeah, I think I'll just eat there. I'm sure dad will appreciate the fettuccini tonight." I told her, assuaging her possible disappointment by reminding her that my dad enjoys fettuccini just as much as I do.

My mom sighed. "Alright, then. You can go."

I smiled widely and stood up on my tip toes to peck her on the cheek before heading for the front door. "Thanks, mom!"

"Don't stay out too late! Remember it's still a school night!" She called after me.

"Got it! I'll be back before eleven!" I called back to her before shutting the front door behind me.

And on that note, I set off in the direction of the Paper Lantern. It wasn't very far from our house, as most places that I usually hang out at are not too far from home. After all, they always need to be accessible to us because we never were those types of kids who went off the beaten track for things. So within a couple of minutes I was happy to have made it to the Paper Lantern before the sun started to set.

I walked into the restaurant, seeing it sparsely filled, which was somewhat good with me as it made it easier for me to find Layla and Will. I skimmed around the restaurant for them, unaware that someone had come to the host's podium and was currently waiting on me.

"Lexi?" A familiar, deep voice questioned.

I pulled my eyes away from the expanse of the restaurant to find Warren standing in front of me. Once again, I wasn't sure how well I would get used to the idea that Warren worked here. After all, he looked very different here than at school, especially with his hair pulled out of his face.

"Oh. Hey, Warren." I greeted him, with a small smile and wave. I will be completely honest and say that I am feeling slightly more cautious around Warren ever since the cafeteria brawl. I know that I wasn't the one who threw him through a wall, but part of me still feels a bit guilty.

"Table for one?" He asked, not giving me any hint as to how he was feeling towards me at the moment.

I nodded.

"Alright, follow me."

He took to a booth near the windows of the restaurant and let me take a seat, while I started to chance glimpses around the restaurant again for my red-haired friend.

"She's in the back." Warren stated.

"What?"

"Your friend, Layla, is over there." He pointed towards the opposite side of the restaurant, where I saw the back of Layla's head sitting alone in another booth.

I nodded, glad that I found her, but a little bit unsettled that she was sitting alone. Also a little unsettling was how Warren knew I was looking for her.

"How did you know I was…"

"Well, you didn't very well go over there and join her, so I'm guessing the friend she's waiting for is Stronghold." Warren said, casually leaning against the booth.

"Yeah, he should be here by now." I mumbled, looking down at my watch to check for the time.

"So, are you spying on them?" Warren blatantly asked, his voice loud enough to echo about the restaurant, but thankfully the clamor from the kitchen did well to mask that.

I looked up at him, shocked and thoroughly caught, while I tried to muster up some great defense, but came up empty-handed.

"I get it, Lexi. I get it. Relax." Warren chuckled, putting a stop to mindless mumbling. "You're just trying to be a good friend."

I couldn't stop the surprised look that came onto my face, one, because I think I just heard Warren Peace laugh…somewhat and two, because either I was that obvious for Warren to notice my intentions after a few minutes or Warren was a whole lot smarter than people gave him credit.

"Right." Was all I managed in response.

Warren cracked a smile as he glanced over at Layla's table. "Well, I'll give you this, Lexi. You're doing a crack-load better job at being a friend than Stronghold is at the moment."

I couldn't even try to be proud of that. I really wanted to believe that Will was still the same Will we've been friends with since diapers.

"He'll be here, Will is just running a bit late, that's all." I sighed with forced assurance as I glanced at my watch again. "About twenty minutes late."

Warren chuckled again, not hiding the fact that he was doubtful of my friend. "Whatever you say….Anyways, your waitress will be right with you a few minutes, I have to go…do stuff." He said, tossing his dishrag over his shoulder and pushing himself off the booth.

"Thanks." I told him as he started to walk away, but called out to him soon after, realizing I still had something I was wondering about. "Oh, wait! Warren!"

He stopped and turned around. "Yeah?"

I awkwardly cleared my throat and fiddled with the napkin in my lap. "Are…are we cool?" I asked, hesitantly, then mentally slapping myself for my ridiculous word choice. _Way to try and make him take you seriously, Lexi._

"Cool? If by that are you asking if I hate you, then it's a no to that one." Warren replied, being merciful on my dignity and masking a laugh behind a half-smile.

"That's good to know." That was an understatement. I was more than simply happy to know that Warren didn't consider me an enemy.

"It's not you I have a bone to pick with. It's your little friend Stronghold." He clarified with me, narrowing his eyes when he mentions Will.

_And if he doesn't get here soon, I might have a bone to pick with him too._ I thought to myself, though I said something remotely different out loud.

"Yeah, by the way you were chucking fire balls at his face, I figured that much."

"Yeah, well, if it makes you feel any better, I think you're a pretty alright person. That and you can kick some major ass with those powers of yours." He said, holding his hand out to me.

.

I smiled half-heartedly, before reaching out to shake his hand that soon became a fist bump.

"Thanks, Warren."

"No, pro—"

Warren was abruptly cut off by someone shouting at him in Chinese from behind the kitchen counter. He grimaced slightly and took a deep breath before turning around to shout back at whoever called him, in very fluent Chinese, I feel I should add.

"Duty calls. See you around, Storm." He saluted before walking off to deal with whatever he was getting yelled at for.

"Take it easy, Peace."

Soon after Warren had left, a polite waitress came by and asked for my order. Having not looked at the menu but knowing it from my many visits, I ordered an iced tea and a plate of chicken pot stickers. It wasn't much but my hunger was the least of my concerns, as I continually watched the minutes tick by and Layla still sat alone, telling her waiter that she was still waiting for him. And as one of her best friends, I could practically see and feel her disappointment rolling off of her in waves. But what was I to do. I swore that I wouldn't interfere, but Will's absence is starting to make me feel otherwise. And while I wonder how he could have forgotten, I wonder what mediocre thing he could possibly be doing at this moment that just wipes his mind clean of anything else.

"Woah. You done murdering that napkin?" A voice asked teasingly from behind me.

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts and realized I had been tearing my napkin into strips and had now reduced it to a pile of scraps on the table. I sighed heavily and ran a hand through my hair before looking over my shoulder, part of me not surprised at who was standing there.

"Hey, Lash." I greeted, not putting my full effort into it. "Fancy seeing you here."

Lash came around to the other side of the booth so he could face me, taking up the position Warren had left earlier.

"Wow, no groan of displeasure or rolling of the eyes. I'm actually getting somewhere." Lash noted happily, pumping his fist once at his minimal amount of success.

I shook my head at him. "Does that mean that you coincidentally being here, is just you attempting to make good by your words earlier?" I asked, recalling to mind our conversation in which he said he was going to show me his good side.

He shrugged his lean shoulders and flicked his hair out of his eyes, before saying, "Depends. Are you going to invite me to take a seat or are going to have to banter around till you do?"

I couldn't help but smile at that. To be honest, bantering was entertaining and it made things between Lash and I seem actually tolerable.

"Go ahead then. Have a seat." I said, beckoning him to the empty seat across from me. "It's not like anyone else was occupying it anyways."

"Oh, how nice of you. I'm flattered." Lash said, with playful sarcasm.

"Don't hold your breath."

Lash didn't heed my words as anything but good-humored as he sat back comfortably in his seat. His eyes flickered at my face before dropping a little bit lower. "I see, you're still wearing my jumper." He observed.

My eyes widened as I realized that was true. I hadn't really paid any mind to it before I left home since I didn't change after school. Plus, it was a little bit cooler tonight and I was comfortable with keeping it on. But now that I realize that it was still Lash's, I couldn't really stop the blush that forced its way upon my cheeks and I bit my lip in my vain attempt to push it away.

"Right. I didn't realize I was…and it was a little chilly and I-I'll return it to you tomorrow." I muttered, tugging on the ends of the long sleeves.

Thankfully, Lash wasn't given the chance to tease me anymore about his jumper as the waitress arrived on time and set my drink and food on the table, but he still had the nerve to chuckle at me. The waitress looked at Lash, probably thinking I had been waiting for him, and like a proper server asked for his drink order. I would have contested the assumption that we were here together, had it not been for Lash ordering for himself then tacking on a charming smile that wasn't directed at the waitress.

"Funny, I didn't come here planning on paying for two peoples' meals." I told him as the waitress walked off to get his drink.

"Well, that's where the good news comes in." He said. "You won't have to."

I gave him a questioning look, while I sipped my water.

"A lady never pays for dinner on a date with a gentleman." Lash simply stated.

I had to tightly press my lips to keep me from spewing the contents of my glass all over Lash as his words struck a chord in my head. I quickly gulped down my water and looked pointedly at Lash's cheeky smile.

"This isn't a date, therefore your argument is invalid."

Lash's smile grew as he leaned across the table to be a bit closer to me. "You are a young lady, I am a gentleman," I gave an unladylike snort at that one, "and we are here in lovely restaurant, together with no third party interference. Logic says it's a date."

I opened my mouth to protest but found myself repeating his words in my head and finding out that I had nearly stated those exact words to Layla hours before. Damn it. Way to backfire on me there, words.

I sighed and narrowed my eyes at Lash, whose cheekiness only increased as he knew I had nothing to protest that.

"Fine. Think what you will about whatever this is. But do me a favor and keep it in your head. I'm not too biased to that idea yet." Truth be told, the idea of this being a date was almost foreign to me. I never really thought about it till Lash pretty much just blew the idea up in my face.

Lash waved his hand dismissively. "You'll come around to it, I promise." He said, giving me a wink.

I didn't reply but used my fork to grab a pot sticker at the end of my fork and shoveling it into my mouth.

"So, till then, why don't you tell me why you were here in the first place all by your lonesome self." Lash asked, picking up his fork and mimicking my movements, not even asking if he could share my food in the first place. But I soon realized that Lash would have done it either way, if he had asked or not.

I swallowed and glanced back at Layla, who was twirling her cell phone in between her fingers, the booth still stark empty in front of her. I shook my head and turned back to Lash, who was waiting on my answer.

"Just felt like getting out of the house and the Paper Lantern seemed like a dandy idea."

I said, skirting around the Layla and Will topic.

Lash gave me a funny look. "Did you just say 'dandy'?"

"I did and I am proud of it. Shall we move on?"

"Right, well, how about this: are you also spying on your friend?" He asked, taking another bite of food and sent a glance in Layla's direction.

"Lord, no! I mean, maybe…what does it matter to you?" I demanded.

Lash smirked and laughed low underneath his breath. "It doesn't. I just think it's incredibly befitting of you."

"Befitting?"

"Yeah, you seem to watch over your friends and take care of them a whole lot. I never doubted that you are a good friend to those who deserve you." He observed.

_Twice in once day. Am I that obvious?_

"So I've been told."

I twirled my fork in between my fingers as his observation sunk into my head. I suppose it was good perspective of my character, as one who was one for the good of others rather than themselves…seems appropriate for a superhero. My parents would be proud.

"So, what about you?" I suddenly blurted out.

Lash stopped mid-chew and looked at me confusedly. "What?"

I laid my fork down on my plate and leaned forward on the table, much like Lash did earlier. "Simple question, really. I mean, from all the times we have had to confront one another, it's like we start to gather up a list of things we see from me. But, never you."

There was a glint in Lash's eyes as he seemed to like the question. "Are you asking me to share stuff about myself?" His tone was teasing and simply light-hearted.

The corner of my lips jerked into a small grin as I shrugged. "I don't see you coming up with anything better."

"Fine." Lash said, setting his fork down and resting his elbows on the table. "Let's start with something basic…"

And like that, Lash led me headfirst down a long road of little known facts about one of Sky High's notorious bullies. Like for one thing, I wonder how many people actually knew Lash's real name, which, by the way, is Jake Livingston. He admitted that he never picked the name Lash. Coach Boomer was the first one to call him that after his Power Placement as freshmen, and it just stuck. Next thing I know, Lash lets it slip that his dad happens to be Mr. Fantastic, which doesn't leave much to imagination about the passing of the elastic genes. But it made me extremely curious as to how much of Mr. Fantastic was actually in Lash. Because, I can tell you, I never expected for one moment that Lash would be remotely related to Mr. Fantastic. Then again, Lash spoke of his dad like he wasn't very close to him, so I figured his mischievous nature came from his mom. And according to Lash, it was his mischievous nature that gained him his long running friendship with Speed.

"That is the weirdest thing I have ever heard." I tell Lash honestly after he finished telling me about how he and Speed had become friends.

"Excuse me, no it isn't!" Lash exclaimed, jokingly throwing his straw wrapper at my forehead.

I winced and wiped at the spot he had hit. "Then tell me how forming a friendship over a switching the tub of paste at your pre-school with a tub of mayonnaise and then pouring the paste on all of your classmates seats, is remotely normal."

"Well, first of all, the mayonnaise was Speed's idea, and I simply caught him in the act and asked him if he wanted to kick it up a notch by making productive use of the paste!" Lash defended as if it were really that simple.

"You know, now that you say that, I realize that it explains so much." I said, slowly nodding my head.

Lash scoffed lightly before reaching across the table and poking my shoulder. "Oh, shut up. So what about you? How did you become friends with the uh…'Geek Squad'?" He said, making erratic gestures with his hand as he referenced my group of friends.

I cocked an eyebrow at him, not appreciating the nickname.

"Fine. How did you become friends with Stronghold and the flower child? Happy?" Lash corrected.

"Peachy. And if you must know, it was in first grade." I said, pulling the memories from the back of my mind. "As the story goes, in our elementary science class, when we had to grow lima beans or make potato clocks, Will could never figure out why Layla's plants always grew faster or why my clocks always started up without problem. It made Will crazy, till we decided to be merciful and just tell him about our powers. We've been a trio ever since." I finished with a sort of nostalgic air, as I remembered our younger years where our super power weren't taken so seriously. Sure, it made us different, but it wasn't the most important things in our eyes.

How things have changed, huh?

"Wow." Lash said. "Your story is so…"

"Suitable?"

"I was going to say cliché."

"Hey!" I swatted at his arm. "Cliché or not, at least we didn't build a friendship on juvenile pranks and class disruption." I countered, but was somehow laughing at our turn of conversation.

Lash matched my mood, even as he rubbed the sore spot which I had slapped. "To each his own then, am I right?"

I nodded my head agreeably. "Very right, to each his own."

It was then that I finally managed to do the small task of checking what time it was and realized that time had passed quite quickly, seeing as two hours had somehow come and gone. I suppose it goes without saying _time flies when you're having fun…_and as unbelievable it was to me, I was actually having a good time.

"What is it?" Lash's voice rang in my ear, probably recognizing the thoughtful look on my face.

I looked up at him. "Oh, it was nothing. I just didn't realize what time it was and I promised I'd be home before eleven…so, I should probably get going." My voice came out softer than I expected, and I sounded unconsciously disappointed at the time.

"Oh, right, of course." Lash grudgingly sighed.

We went ahead and got up from our seats, our empty plates and glasses left on the table, and I was reminded of how really late it was as the Paper Lantern was practically empty. I remembered Layla and looked to the back of the restaurant to find her not sitting alone this time, but it wasn't Will sitting across from her. It was Warren. My curiosity was piqued and it actually seemed like they were having a decent conversation. Would it be weird for me to say that that was sort of comforting?

"Lexi? Ready to go?" Lash's voice broke through my reverie.

I stopped looking at my best friend and possible friend long enough to tell Lash I was ready to go once I paid for dinner.

"Oh, don't worry I already paid for it." Lash said, dismissing any of my following protests before he laid a hand on my lower back and led me out of the Paper Lantern, both of us unaware of the tiny shiver that ran down my back.

I was instantly glad that I did keep Lash's jumper on, as a cool gust of wind blew up in our faces the minute we stepped out into the night. I turned down the sidewalk in the direction of my neighborhood, almost forgetting that I wasn't alone as my well-learned route home took up my thoughts. I didn't realize this until I felt Lash's tall presence beside me and heard the sound of his Converse falling in step with mine.

"What are you doing?" I asked, as I stopped walking.

Lash didn't stop but continued on for a few more steps before turning on his heel to look at me, a nice little smile on his face. "What does it look like? I'm walking you home. This is still part of the date, you know."

I rolled my eyes at him, but slowly shuffled my way over to him. "Need I remind you, that I am not warmed up to the idea?"

"And I did say you would eventually, if not now then soon. I am sure of it."

I shook my head at him, as we started down the sidewalk again. "You know, for someone who bullies freshmen for a high school career, I have to admire your persistence."

Lash's lips spread into a smirk so wide that dimples, I didn't even know existed, appeared on his face. "It gets me what I want." He answered simply, unbeknownst to me that he was peering down at me.

I didn't reply with a witty remark to his words, because I'll admit that I kind of share a similar belief. On that note, I couldn't help but crack a small smile at the true to life application Lash had given.

We walked in the quiet for awhile, both of us adjusting to a silently negotiated pace in which my white Converse fitted perfectly beside his scuffed up black ones. I soon discovered that as we continued down the well lit sidewalk of our suburbia, both of us somehow started to sidle closer to one another, neither of us making the effort to take a step to the side. However, the sidewalk wasn't doing much to help that situation, considering that if I sidestepped I'd be in the street and if Lash sidestepped he'd bump into a fence. But really, it didn't seem like we cared so much about the proximity…that is until his hand accidentally bumped into mine, sending a long rush of shivers and tingles up my arm.

"Aren't you glad I gave you my jumper?" Lash suddenly spoke up, seeing my shivers and mistaking them for something else. Though, I couldn't blame him for his mistake, since another gust of wind came in just as we bumped hands. Actually, I was thankful for it. I didn't know what to do about the shivers. I really didn't…at least not at this moment.

"Hm. Oh, yeah. Thanks again, really. I promise I'll return it tomorrow."

"Don't worry about it. You can keep it." I perked up at his offer but immediately contained myself.

"No, I really shouldn't." I said, despite the fact I really did want to keep the jumper.

"Don't be ridiculous. Keep it, seriously." He insisted, lightly squeezing my shoulder in his assertion.

I sighed in defeat and nodded my head, as I finally agreed. "Alright, fine. I'll keep it."

"Plus, it doesn't show off my stripes well." Lash held his arms out and looked proudly and adoringly (much to my dismay) at his beloved, trademark black and white stripes donning his arms.

"If I didn't know any better, I would think you would have a drawer filled with those exact same shirts at home." I said, jokingly.

"Oh my goodness, you do!" I exclaimed when Lash hadn't said anything or made any sound of agreement or joke, like I am sure he would have done. When I looked up, Lash had his head ducked down and his brown eyes were searching the pavement.

"Hey, you can't laugh at me for that!" Lash whined, as my giggles started to erupt with each step we took.

I tried to apologize, but my laughter spoke otherwise. Lash looked less than pleased, embarrassed even as he stood beside me, hands shoved his pockets waiting for me to calm down. However, as chain reactions would allow, pretty soon Lash started to snicker and his snicker grew into chuckling and quite soon he was bent over, laughing as well. Why we were laughing became unimportant because the more we looked at each other laughing, it only fueled us into even more episodes of laughing.

Unfortunately, our episodes of laughter made us unaware that we had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and unaware that another two pair of eyes were on us.

"Lexi!"

My laughter stopped short and I whipped my head to my left where I found, much to my own dismay and shock, Will and Gwen Grayson.

"Will?"

"Gwen?"

"Lash?"

"What…what are you doing here?" Will asked me, utterly confused at the sight in front of him.

_He is one to talk._ I thought to myself.

"Well, I could ask you the same question." I replied, shedding an accusatory eye to Will.

Will's confused expression didn't change, instead he looked to Gwen, who answered for him. "He was just walking me home, like a gentleman. I had dinner at his house."

_Woah, back up! What!_

I felt like someone just ripped the rug from underneath me and I felt the urge to grab Will by his stupid shirt collar and interrogate him underneath the harsh light of my desk lamp. Will's cluelessness was something I was far too used to, but when I looked at Gwen and her perfect smile, the disconcerting feelings settled into my stomach again. Her smile was almost too sweet for me to handle, but apparently it was enough to put Will underneath some spell that turned him into a drooling monkey.

"Oh, really? So that's what you were up to tonight?" I said, trying my hand at calmness but I'm pretty sure it came out like indignant sarcasm.

"Yeah, where else would I have been?" Will was obviously not getting anything from my tone of voice.

I swallowed a possible explosion of colorful words and bit down on my lip, slowly nodding my head, creating the illusion that I was actually understanding all of this.

_Where else would he have been? Oh, I don't know Will, making good by __**your **__stupid promise to Layla? _

"Nowhere, I suppose." I answered, almost telling Will exactly where he should be but forced an indifferent look on my face.

Will didn't say anything, no one else did for the next couple of minutes. We all sort of stood there sparing looks at the things around us, rather than at each other.

"So what were you and Lash up to, tonight?" Gwen suddenly piped up.

At that, Will zeroed his eyes on Lash and I, sending a bit of a suspicious eye at Lash.

"Oh, well I was walking her home too." Lash explained.

Will raised his eyebrows. "From where?"

"The Paper Lantern." I almost had the urge to add the '_eight o'clock' _bit to it, just to see if it rang a bell in his head, but no such luck. Will was still clueless.

"Egh, why do you like that place so much?" He asked, making a face.

_So he can remember how much he doesn't like Chinese food, but he can't remember a date he made on the same day. Lord, bless this boy…_

I took a deep breath before stating very deliberately. "Because it has great food and it's a wonderful place to hang out with friends." That was my last shot at trying to get him to remember, but it was clear that it was done in vain.

"Well!" Gwen suddenly chimed and clapped her hands. "Isn't that nice? But Will and I should get going or my dad won't be happy with me being home too late." She then took Will's hand, making me internally flinch. "It was nice seeing you Lexi, tell your parents I said hi."

_My parents?_

She smiled at me again, tossing me a girlish twiddling of her fingers before tugging Will past us and down the street.

"I'll see you later, Lexi!" Will called out to me.

"Yeah. Right, Will." I gave a flippant wave, but they were already gone before could see my wave, or care about it in the least.

"That…was weird." Lash spoke from behind me.

I numbly nodded my head and pursing my lips. All the flurry of emotions I was feeling toward my best friend was starting to slowly subside, as confusion mainly took over. So much just happened in the last couple of minutes that I needed a moment to recover. First off, the only reason I was feeling slightly incensed at my best friend was that because of him, Layla was left on her own waiting for him, probably still is and now I can only imagine her hurt when she finds out why. Second, I am starting to get really suspicious of Gwen. I realize she hasn't really done anything shady, but the twisted feelings I keep getting in the pit of my stomach around her are not good ones.

"Why would Gwen be hanging out with Stronghold?" Lash wondered out loud, unaware that he just spoke my thoughts.

"Why would you be hanging out with me?" I asked, feeling like using his words against him.

Lash looked down at me and gave me a crooked grin. "Because I actually think you're cool and I like you." His voice grew softer at the last statement, like he hadn't meant to say it outloud.

I was flattered to say the least and gave him a small smile in return, but all I could do once again was compare his words to the Will and Gwen situation. "Do you think Gwen thinks that way about Will?"

He didn't answer me.

Well, that's hardly a good thing.

I sighed and roughly dragged my hand through my hair. "I have to get home."

I looked around me at the familiar houses and realized that I wasn't too far off from my house. Two houses down, actually. We set ourselves back on the sidewalk and finished a quiet trek to my house. Soon, we were standing outside of my front door and an obligatory good night was in place.

"So…" I said, turning to him.

"So…" He repeated, rocking back and forth on his heels.

I felt my eyes flickering everywhere but Lash. I had never done one of these types of goodbyes. I mean, I don't know what to say, my mind is still a bit of a muddled mess from everything that just happened in a span of a few hours. But then again, it's not like this is a date…despite the fact that Lash believes it is, which probably means he is going to attempt to end it like a date…Oh, Lord….Pull yourself together, Lexi!

"Do you still think this isn't a date?" Lash asked, trying his chances again with a hopeful, but cheeky grin, as he stepped closer to me.

I subtly rolled my eyes in a playful way before I reached for the door knob. I paused and looked over my shoulder, giving Lash smile that seemed somewhat tired but at the same time was genuine to the core.

"Good night, Jake."

Lash's eyes glinted happily at my use of his real name and he nodded his head, while he gave me a small wave and returned the smile. _I should let him know that smiling in that fashion is far handsomer than his smirk._

. "G'night Lexi."

**AWWWW! *ahem* sorry about that, everyone. To be honest, I seriously rewrote the whole ending of this chapter like six times because I was so unsure of it, so I hope I did ok. Anyhoots, what do you think? Was this a date or no? **


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey, people! First off, I'd like to thank all of you for your awesome and lovely reviews! You have no idea how happy they make me! So in light of that, here is a brand new chapter for you all, with a bit for you all to chew on. Also, a little bit of gift to all of you readers hoping for a little more of something after Lexi and Lash's "date" **

**Enjoy!**

**Wait…I still don't own Sky High.**

Chapter 11:

"Hey Dad, do you happen to know Gwen Grayson from my school, by any chance?" I asked, the next morning at the breakfast table, subconsciously poking at the yolk of my sunny side up egg.

My dad, who was currently sitting across from me, donned in his lab coat and glasses, looked up from his issue of this morning's paper.

"The nice girl who came by our house yesterday?" He asked.

I almost dropped my fork. "She came here? Why?"

"She was personally inviting us to your Homecoming dance because apparently they are planning to honor Maxville's greatest superheroes. Why do you ask?"

The new piece of information entered my ears and settled somewhere in my brain between the not so distant borders of 'reasonable' and 'suspicious, so run the other way'. This was just adding to the huge stack of things I was already mulling about in my mind. I mean, why would she invite my parents to the Homecoming dance...does that mean she asked the Strongholds too?

"Lexi…Lexi?...Lexi!"

My head shot up and I realized my parents had been trying to get my attention.

"Sorry." I muttered, stabbing at a piece of my egg and eating it.

"So, why were asking about her?" My dad asked, looking back at his newspaper.

"No reason." I said quickly, but thought I could do my own bit of investigating, "Did you at least remember who her parents are? I mean, I am sure you knew them when you went to Sky High."

I heard my dad's paper rustle a bit as he set it down on the table. "Grayson, you said her name was?"

I nodded as I continued to eat my breakfast, so it seemed like this conversation was strictly casual and ones that you have to pass the time.

My dad tapped his chin thoughtfully. In the meantime of my dad trying to rack his brain for any recollection of the name, my mom came to join us at the table, also dressed in her lab coat and her hair tied up in a neat ponytail.

"Sandra, honey, do you happen to remember any of our classmates with the name Grayson?" My dad asked, after pecking my mom on the cheek.

"Grayson?" It was my mom's turn to think, but a quick moment later she was shaking her head. "No, I don't recall the name."

I was a tiny bit shocked, but part of me was glad to have obtained this little snippet of information.

"Well, it's not completely out of the ordinary. Maybe Gwen's parents aren't supers, or maybe they came from a different city. You never know." My mom offered.

At the mention of parents, an image of my parents' 1985 yearbook flashed in my head. No, it was not of Boomer's mullet, that was just weird. But it was the picture of the Mad Science club. I looked up at my dad who was quietly conversing on something with my mom and contemplated asking him about Sue Tenney. I mean, there has got to be something going on about the resemblance factor and the chances of it being a doppelganger are very slim. Plus, if my dad was in the Mad Science club with her, he should know something.

"Hey, dad, do you remember a…err…Sue Tenney then?" I asked, hesitantly.

It became oddly quiet as my parents had abruptly stopped talking. I looked up from my plate to find both of them giving me edgy looks.

"How do you know about Sue Tenney?" My dad asked.

By the tone of the question, I felt like maybe I wasn't supposed to have known about Sue Tenney in the first place. But that only made my need to know increase.

"I was looking at your old school yearbook and I saw a picture of her that's all…just curious." I explained then added. "So you did know her?"

Both of my parents sighed and I saw my mom discreetly nod her head at my dad.

"I did. We were in Mad Science Club together, friends almost. But…"

"But?"

My dad sucked in a deep breath and folded his hands on the table. "You have to understand that back then, the extent and variation of superpowers was not as wide as it is now. People didn't quite understand."

"Didn't understand what?"

"Sue Tenney was a different kind of super. Her powers were foreign to us, but nonetheless Mad Science Club was the only place that virtually accepted her. Sadly, the rest of the school didn't, even the teachers." My dad said, regretfully.

"What happened to her, dad?"

My dad shook his head, like he himself didn't know a solid answer. "After graduation, she just disappeared. No one heard from her again."

"Why?"

"Some say she was recruiting villains at our school." My mom said quietly.

My dad shook his head, obviously skeptical of it. But at the same time, he didn't say anything to contest that, like he also knew there was that possibility floating around. I mean, a former student at Sky High recruiting villains. That is practically unheard of. It shocks me thinking about it, but it dazes me and makes me shudder to see how much Gwen looks like Sue Tenney. Was Sue Tenney Gwen's mother?

Possible.

Creepy.

But possible.

"Alright, that's enough of that." My mom suddenly said, stopping us from any further questioning. It was obvious that she didn't like the subject matter. "Come on, Lexi, you need to get to the bus before they leave you behind."

She tapped at her watch and started to urge me from the table. Despite the fact that I didn't want to leave just yet and the fact that I knew Ron would hold the bus for me till I got there, I ended up complying with my mother and picking myself up from the breakfast table. After kissing my parents goodbye, I left the kitchen, back pack slung over my shoulder, and headed out the front door.

I walked alone for a few minutes along my usual route, pondering the long, growing list of fishy evidence, so to speak, in my head. They were like puzzle pieces. I just keep finding them, one right after another, but I have no way of knowing how to put them together. And to make things slightly more complicated, the whole 'Will & Layla' thing still exists.

And speaking of that…

I rounded the corner to the bus stop, in time to see Layla and Will standing together in conversation at the corner. Will looked like he was extremely enthused by something, completely oblivious to the artificial smile and happy expression on Layla's face as she listened to whatever he was talking about.

_I swear, if he's talking about his night with Gwen, I'm going to…_ I thought to myself as I slowly ambled my way down the sidewalk and closer to my friends, one of which I am not very happy with.

"Oh, there's Lexi!" Layla said, hastily waving at me.

Will whipped around and excitedly waved at me, looking like he was eating something. I drew closer and found that he was eating a fortune cookie that I am quite sure Layla gave to him.

"Hey, guys." I greeted, before grabbing the other half of the uneaten cookie in Will's hand and peeling out the unread fortune.

"_Your loyalties are clear when it comes to friends." _I read out loud to them.

Well, there was no secret or subtlety in that one.

I flicked my eyes pointedly at Will, who paused for a moment, before realization dawned on his face. He smacked his head with his palm.

"Oh. God. Oh. I am so sorry. I totally spaced out, Layla. I am pretty sure you want to kill me right now." Will said, sounding genuinely apologetic.

Layla looked like she believed him as she shook her head. "No, it's actually the opposite."

I couldn't mask my surprise. "It is?"

Layla looked at me funnily before nodding her head. "Yeah, I have something to tell Will."

"Yeah?" Will repeated.

"Yeah, but you said you wanted to tell us something so you can go first." Layla said.

"Oh, right, well, mine's about homecoming." Will said, making Layla immediately brighten up.

"Really? Mine too!" Layla said, a hopeful smile on her face.

I didn't need anyone to explain to me what was going on here. I think I was getting a very good idea from Layla that she was going to ask Will, and it vaguely sounded like Will was going to discuss with us his date situation as well.

"Well, get on with it then." I said, urging Will onwards as I could see Layla was clearly eager to hear his news.

"I'm going with Gwen Grayson!"

"Woah, what?" I said, rather loudly before I could fully stop myself.

_Way to dash Layla's hopes, Will. _

I shook my head a few times, a rather disbelieving look on my face as I looked at him at a loss for words. A look that he took as a good type of shock. Otherwise he would have understood that my shock was a thick mixture of surprise and aggravation with him. But as I glanced at Layla, who looked crestfallen in every aspect of the word while she forced a smile, I relaxed a bit in her sake.

Just in time to put a small break in the conversation, as I was sure two of us needed to wrap our minds around it, the bus arrived and we all started to board. I went on first and plopped down beside Magenta, fearing that if I sat beside Will, I might just cuff him on the back of his head.

"I know! Can you believe it?" Will asked, as he stepped onto the bus, directing the question and Layla and me.

"No. Actually I can't." I quickly and curtly voiced.

Will didn't seem to have heard me and Layla lightly poked my arm to be a bit nicer, despite the fact I was pretty sure this was heavier blow to her than it was to me. Personally, if I wasn't so defensive about Gwen in the first place, maybe I wouldn't be so adverse to the idea. But so many bells and whistles are going off at the moment, and none of them are good signs.

The two of them sat down on the seats across the aisle from me, giving me enough room to hear the rest of the conversation.

"Me, a freshman, going to the homecoming dance with the most amazing girl in Sky High!" Will said, like he was in dreamy state.

Ouch. Thanks Will for that great sucker punch to my and Layla's insecurities.

Of course, this is me being slightly more sarcastic as the comment didn't hurt me as much as it hurt Layla. While I shrugged the comment off, knowing it to be just Will saying so, I could see in Layla's eyes that she was completely disheartened, despite the weak smile on her face.

"That's awesome." I heard Layla say, her voice in false enthusiasm.

Will looked at me and I gave a slow nod. "Sure…it's just great."

"I know!" Will replied, thinking he had gotten our approval.

I shook my head at Will obliviousness and at the fact that Layla's going to be hung up on this for awhile. The conversation went silent for awhile after that as Ron made his usual announcement of our take-off and the seat belts came out to strap us in. I mean, how else could you have a conversation during take-off?

I settled back in my seat just as the bus hit smoother air and Will suddenly recalled that Layla was supposed to tell him something too. Needless to say, I was naturally listening in.

"Oh! Yeah, I almost forgot. What's your homecoming news?" Will said, finally giving some attention to Layla.

Layla seemed to have lost the point of telling Will what she had originally wanted to. And it's understandable.

"I…I'm going too!"

"Really. Who with?"

_Ok, now I really have to tune in._

Now two different things could happen here. One, Layla could flat out tell Will the real situation and the fact that she'll be going alone, or option number two, which I hope to God isn't the one Layla is subjecting herself to, is possibly digging herself a deep, deep grave of misunderstanding.

"Who with?" Layla repeated, her voice doing that thing where I know for a fact she's about to make up something.

"Yeah. Who asked you?" Will asked.

"Oh! Who asked me?"

_Option 1, Option 1, Option 1, come on, Option—_

"Warren Peace."

_2?_

I twisted around in my seat and gave Layla a less severe version of the sharp look Will was giving her. Now, I am not so confused by the fact Layla was possibly asked by Warren, considering he was the one making her the opposite of lonely last night, but I never really thought Layla would have said yes. I was in the right mind to think that Layla's choice was one made out of spite for Will.

I didn't know how right I was.

"Warren Peace?" Will exclaimed for about the third time since we got off the bus.

I followed close behind my two friends, Layla and I staying silent through Will's incredibly extensive ranting on her date choice. He had been going on and on about it, flinging his hands out in erratic patterns as he did so. I was getting a little sick of it, and was desperate to slap him on the head and tell him to shut up.

"You can't be serious!" He says, trying to reason with her. "Layla, the guy's a psycho and my biggest enemy!"

"No offense, Will. How is that Layla's concern?" I chimed in from behind, but was dismissed by Will, but Layla heard me and acknowledged me.

"Exactly! Thank you, Lexi! Just because you have a problem with him, doesn't mean I should." Layla said, as she continued to walk to first period.

"I firmly agree with that one." I added in.

Will looked completely horrified. "Oh no! Not you too! Lexi, are you actually telling me that you think Warren is a decent guy?"

"Yes, actually that is exactly what I am telling you, Will. Sorry that for once Layla and I don't side with you." I admit, walking faster to join Layla's side.

Will winced at my comment. He knew it was true. No matter what, Layla and I were there to agree with him. And I am sure it scared him now to know that we aren't.

"Gah! What is happening to the world! First, Lexi and Lash and now, Layla and Warren?" Will asked, no one in particular, but it was getting a lot of attention from other students swarming around us in the hallways.

Layla looked at me curiously for a moment, letting me know that I would have to explain to her what Will was referring to later. And lucky for her, I was already planning to, but I don't think the current time is the right time to do it, considering Will was showing no signs of quitting his rant to Layla.

"Layla, how…how can you go with him?" He demanded. "I mean, when did you two even start hanging out!"

Layla suddenly whipped around on her heel, one of her pigtails slapping Will on the way there.

"Last night: the Paper Lantern." She snapped at him before storming into the classroom.

I was impressed with Layla. She never snaps at anyone, especially Will. But now that leaves me with the pathetic and defeated looking Will.

Great.

He moved his eyes to me next, pleadingly. I quickly shook my head at him, setting my lips in a firm straight line.

"Lexi…" He started.

"Will, I tried last night, I really did. This is your burden to bear. Not mine. I'm sorry." I said, backing into the Hero Support classroom, but a thought became clear in my mind in light of the events and I couldn't help but stop and make one more remark.

"And another thing, Will. You really shouldn't judge people so easily. Not everyone is what they seem at first glance, that I can promise you." I told him, before walking into class leaving him with his thoughts…and possibly guilt.

I distantly hoped that my words struck him not only in accordance to Warren, but with someone else as well…maybe, perhaps, Gwen?

Just a thought.

I walked into class and dropped my behind in Will's former seat that had been vacant since he left. None of us had the heart to take it, but right now, I really felt like it no longer mattered. I looked at Layla in the seat beside me, her chin resting in her hand as she stared off into space.

I tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, are you alright?"

She looked at me and numbly nodded. "Yeah, I'm just…fine."

"Right." I said, though doubted her completely but decided not to push the subject. I wasn't going to make her explain herself to me, seeing as she was put under the same light with Will just a few minutes ago.

"So…what was Will saying…you know, about you and Lash?" Layla asked, using a good tactic of getting her mind off of her own 'grave digging', by turning the attention onto me.

But just then, as only time would allow, the bell rang and Mr. Boy came in, ready to start another lesson. I straightened up in my seat and fished my binder out of my backpack. When Mr. Boy turned around to write something on the board, I leaned over to whisper to Layla.

"I will explain to you today, I swear. I think, on our way to lunch would be appropriate."

"Alright." Layla nodded, agreeing to my timetable before turning her attention onto Mr. Boy as he dove into a lesson concerning what to do if our superhero is caught with no means of escape.

Classes past fast as molasses, but in due time the bell was chiming again for lunch. We walked out of the History of Hero Support, Layla and I just a few feet ahead of Ethan, Magenta and Zach. The three were too busy arguing about our last lesson to pay attention to Layla and I, which was good, so I could freely explain to Layla the situation at hand without being questioned into oblivion.

At first, it was a little difficult to start this explanation because I am really sure that to my friends' ears a lot of it really didn't make much sense to them. But after looking for the best angle to start at, I ended up having to start from the beginning, well…sort of the beginning, more like the lunch situation. Layla felt the need to remind me about my minor shockwave incident that I caused but it was immediately brushed aside when she found out Lash followed me out and that I was wearing his jumper. She actually got a kick out of that one, much to my own discomfort. Next thing I know, I realized I had to explain to her what happened last night, and I can't fully do that without letting her know I was playing Agent 007 at the Paper Lantern. She was slightly upset, I mean, she slapped me on the arm for it. But she eventually recovered, not being able to stay mad at me, and let me finish. However, when we got to the part about me actually having a decent dinner with Lash and him walking me home, she just couldn't wrap her mind around it.

"That was…oddly sweet of him." Layla said, struggling to find the right words. "Are…are you sure we are still talking about the same Lash?"

"Yes, we are still talking about the same Lash." I assured her, knowing she'd come around to the idea. I know I have.

"Who's talking about me?" A husky, voice whispered from over my shoulder.

I jumped and my fight instinct kicked in, making me throw my elbow back into the unsuspecting person's gut. I quickly regretted that as I saw the black and white stripes and quickly turned around where Lash was leaning up against a row of lockers, rubbing his stomach with a pained expression.

"Oh my goodness, I am so sorry." I said, covering my mouth with my hand.

I turned to look at Layla who looked amused at the sight. She quickly nodded at Lash before mouthing, _"I'll let you two talk._". She quickly gathered up Ethan, Zach and Magenta, who looked on with very confused expressions and started to lead them away to the cafeteria.

"Wait, what is this?" Magenta asked over her shoulder.

"Don't you be messin' with my homegirl, now!" Zach shouted at Lash, earning some weird looks from everyone in the hallway and some very embarrassed looks from yours truly.

"Ok, come on guys, let's go to lunch. Lexi will be joining us very soon. She just needs to have a little chat." Layla said, while shoving my friends down the hallway.

I mentally thanked Layla for her quick understanding and watched as she shoveled my friends away. When they disappeared from my sight, I turned around to face Lash, only to realize that in the meantime he had recovered from my sharp jab to the stomach and was standing relatively closer to me.

I awkwardly coughed and slid back an inch or so, so I wasn't craning my neck to look up at Lash. He smirked down at me, clearly treasuring that moment and tried to stretch, but I guess my sharp elbow did a lot more damage than I originally thought. He grunted and hunched over again.

"I really am sorry about that one." I told him honestly, leading him off to the side.

He shook his head and tried to play it off. "It's fine, I'll get over it. I've had worse. Believe me." He took a deep breath and rubbed his midsection before straightening himself up.

"Well, you shouldn't have surprised me. I don't exactly have a flight response."

Lash laughed. "I can see that. But how else was I supposed to get your attention?"

"A simple hello would have sufficed nicely." I told him jokingly.

"Yes! But what is the fun in that!" Lash said, then flicked his hair and casually started to walk beside me. "Besides, if I did hear you right—"

"You mean, did you eavesdrop right." I interrupted.

Lash rolled his eyes and waved his hand dismissively. "Details, you know I don't mind those."

I let out a soft giggle. "Sadly."

"And like I was saying, that if I heard you right, you were talking about me already." Lash stated with a smug glint in his eye. I rolled my eyes, thinking that if I said anything it would only give him satisfaction. "So telling Flower Child about our _date_?"

"Yes." I slapped my hand over my mouth, realizing I answered before I could think about it. I felt my cheeks warm up as Lash got this look on his face as he realized what I just said.

"Ha! You finally admit it! Yes!" Lash started to pump his fist, drawing a good amount of attention from people in the hallway.

I ducked my head and used my hand to cover my eyes. Despite the fact I was hiding my face out of my embarrassment, in my head, I was quite happy to admit that it was a date last night.

"Ok, stop, stop." I said, pushing his hands back down to his sides. "Yes, fine…it was a date."

Lash finally calmed down, but still held a pleased smile on his face. "Did you at least enjoy yourself? I seem to have forgotten to ask when I walked you home."

I sighed and slowly nodded my head. "Last night was…"

"Incredible. Worth your good graces?" Lash threw out there.

I gave a low laugh, but admitted. "I was going to say different…but it was really nice."

"Good. I had a great time too." Lash said, in a much quieter but genuine voice.

I smiled to myself at that. I suppose that's something else that convinces me that it was a date. Both of us actually enjoyed ourselves. I mean, maybe I was just being a bit stubborn in admitting it last night, but perhaps that was because my idea of my first date wouldn't have derived from a botched spy mission for me. But it did, and guess what? It worked out.

"You know, now that I think about it…" Lash's voice broke into my thoughts making me realize that we'd reached the open double doors of the cafeteria. "I…I think I forgot something else last night." Lash finished, turning to face me.

I turned to him and curiously tilted my head to the side. "What is it?"

Lash licked his lips as he looked down at me, his eyes holding this determined glint that gave me the good sort of chills. And before I could truly fathom anything else, Lash took my chin in between his thumb and forefinger, lowered his head, and pressed a kiss onto my lips.

There was a spark. No, literally. The minute he touched my lips, a blue spark appeared, but Lash couldn't be bothered by it. If anything, it made the kiss much warmer than before, giving me a fluttery feeling in the pit of my stomach. But nonetheless, it only seemed to encourage me into kissing him back.

But as quick as the kiss came, Lash pulled away, but just enough to whisper against my lips.

"A goodnight kiss."

**AWWWW**

**So I pray that satisfies you all! And I hope that you all liked the chapter! Anyone ticked off at Will? I am. Anyways, more is to come! You can count on it!:)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey, everybody! So, I'd like to apologize for not posting these last two days, but I have a somewhat legitimate excuse. Friday I actually went to go watch The Dark Knight Rises (EPIC) with my best friend and I was far too excited about the movie to post, so I apologize for that. And yesterday, my parents had me running around with them, so I was just finishing a few chapters last night. But nonetheless, as Lash says, 'Details, details' let's get down to the story.**

**Layla, will you do the honors?**

**Layla: Of course! Sky High and everything it is associated with does not belong to Camille **

**Enjoy!**

Chapter 12:

To say the last couple of days took a bit of a turn for the worst would be a severe understatement. I mean, things haven't exactly been disastrous. But think of it like this: it's like there is a huge gaping hole of fallacies and misunderstandings that just keeps growing deeper and deeper with each passing hour of the day. It's getting to the point where I am convinced that the hole is going to swallow us altogether.

After Lash kissed me, which, by the way, was something unheard of in itself (senior hero kissing a freshmen sidekick) and gave the school something to talk about, it seemed like that gave everyone free reign to try something out of the ordinary..

Next thing I know, the Stronghold-Storm-Williams trio soon became the Peace-Storm-Williams trio as it soon became known that Warren and Layla are a 'pair', and I say that loosely. However, being the third party in this arrangement, I am aware that both of them are only involved in this somewhat convoluted plan to wind up Will in aggravation. And let me tell you, I think it's working quite well.

The events of so named above haven't put Will in a cheerful light lately either. He's only attempted once to reconcile himself with Layla and I, but by some odd coincidence, Gwen was there to flip her hair and pull him away before he even got the chance to. It's like he should have a label on his forehead that says 'easily swayed by things in pink'. I almost gave myself a mental smack for all the years I dealt with him and his tendency to be oblivious to things. And to make matters just a tiny bit worse for Will, Ethan, Magenta, and Zach have been equally distancing themselves from him, all of them slowly starting to believe that Will has left us for the bigger heroes.

And it's really starting to seem that way.

You don't see Will objecting to sitting with Gwen and her group anymore than you see me walking around in a neon pink tutu. (That's never going to happen, by the way…)

But, Will would have us think otherwise. (Not the tutu part.)

At least, that's what he's trying to tell me as we got off the bus after school.

"Lexi! Hold up! Lexi, wait up! Please!"

I huffed and stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, regretting going home on my own since everyone else was back at school working on that Mad Science essay I had already finished the night I went to play spy. But despite my reluctance, I turned around on my heel just as Will reached my side, breathless and slightly sweaty.

"Yeah, what do you need, Will?" I asked, shifting my backpack on my shoulder.

"I…uh, what's up?"

"What's up?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow expecting far more than a 'what's up?'.

"Well, I mean…you and Layla have been giving me the cold shoulder all week, so…" Will said, making me turn around and give him a disbelieving look.

"Cold shoulder? Oh, didn't even think you'd notice that much, Will." I retorted.

Will looked slightly taken back. "Lexi, look, I'm sorry for whatever it is that I did, but come on, we're best friends! You and Layla can't be that mad at me."

"Correction Will: I am more disappointed in you while Layla is hurt by you." I flat-out told him, showing him the clear distinction, going as far as making an air diagram with my hands.

But that only seemed to confuse Will a bit more. "Disappointed? Lexi, what did I do?"

I shook my head at him, incredulously. "That's just it, Will. You are completely unaware of half of the things that you do. And that is not a good thing."

Will didn't say anything. He still had that lost puppy look on his face, which was literally telling me that I have to draw him another air diagram or actually have to tell him what I am talking about.

I took a deep breath and fully faced Will. "Ditching Layla at the Paper Lantern to play lovey dovey with Gwen Grayson and then having the nerve to tell Layla and me that we can't be hanging out with Warren? Does that make any amount of sense to you?" I sounded exasperated with just spilling the facts out.

"Lexi. I apologized for that already!" Will exclaimed, flinging his arms out.

"I know you did, and we accepted it…" I paused and thought a moment before adding, "Sort of. But do you really think that makes it ok for you to tell us that we can't hang out with Warren…or Lash…or anyone you aren't on good terms with?"

Will sighed and dragged a hand through his hair. "I…I just want you and Layla to be careful, that's all."

"I should be the one telling you that." I shook my head and turned around to start trudging back up the sidewalk. There was no way for this conversation to be resolved in any casual way. So unless, Will had anything better to tell me, then I'll be taking my walk home now.

"What's that supposed to mean?'

I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment before turning back around. "It means…"

I trailed off, contemplating revealing everything I am speculating about Gwen and about everything else…but soon came to the conclusion that it wasn't an opportune time to do so.

"It means, I just want you to be careful, Will. With your powers, with your new crowd, and with Gwen. Just please…be careful."

That being said, I turned around and finished my walk home, leaving Will to once again ponder my warning. I mean, I've gave him two already…that should be enough, right? Then again, I tend to be far more ambiguous than I really need to be…but…then again, Will's been my friend long enough to be capable of deciphering my words. Therefore, no one can say I didn't do anything to help Will out.

"Mom! Dad!" I called out, shutting the front door with my foot when I arrived at my humble abode.

I was greeted by silence, making me aware that I was alone. I made my way to the kitchen, needing something to replenish myself after that fairly intense conversation with Will. When I made a beeline for the fridge, I found a note tacked onto the shiny surface with one of the magnets and pulled it off for me to read.

'_Lexi,_

_Distress call in London. Apparently someone thought it ok to wire the London Eye with explosives. We'll be home later. There are leftovers in the fridge if we aren't home in time for dinner. Stay safe, lock the doors, and shock anyone who tries to break in. We love you!_

_ -Mom and Dad_

I smiled at the note and folded it in half before tucking it into my pocket. But sticking to my original plan, with heed to my parents' suggestion, I swung open the fridge and found an unopened bottle of my sacred mango juice (I love it way too much to leave it be). I soon migrated to pantry where I settled for a packet of saltine crackers that would hold me over till I actually craved something else. With those objects in one hand, I grabbed my backpack off the counter and skipped upstairs to my room, after making sure the front door was locked.

When I arrived in my bedroom, I sat down at my desk, and flicked through my mental notes of what assignments I had due…and I realized I had none. That night of compulsory work before my spy mission really gave me too much free time these last couple of days. I sighed as I leaned back in my chair, snapping open the sealed cap of my juice and taking a long sip. I wondered what I could do at, I glanced at my watch, _4:00_ in the afternoon. That was when a bright blue cover caught my attention. Peeking out from underneath my Mad Science essay, was my parents' 1985 Sky High yearbook. I narrowed my eyes at the damned object, before finally grabbing it and flipping through its pages.

I rubbed my eyes as I looked at the group picture of the Mad Science Club again. Then I started to grumble to myself as I realized that no matter how many times I looked at the stoic, cold face it wasn't going to tell me anything.

"Come on, Sue…tell me something…anything…" I said, tapping my chin.

That's when it occurred to me.

I quickly flipped to the senior portraits and started flipping through the names.

"Sue Tenney…Sue Tenney….Sue Tenney…" I chanted to myself till I finally smacked in the face with another, larger portrait of said girl. It was clear enough for me to simply think it was Gwen in the picture just hiding behind a scowl and thick-rimmed glasses. I mean, she was even sporting the same haircut. I turned my attention to the list of facts they put out beside each seniors' photo and immediately dove in.

_Name: Sue Tenney_

_Class: Sidekick_

_Power: Can manipulate technology with her mind_

My eyebrows knitted together in thought. "So she was technopath, but was sorted as a Sidekick."

I scratched the back of my head as I thought about how unusual this was. All I have ever earned about technopaths is that they are very powerful type of super, like my power of electricity with telekinesis combined into one. It's a very special power and something that is kind of rare, but not unheard of, in the superhero domain. So why they would place a technopath in sidekick class was beyond me. But then I was suddenly reminded how my dad said her powers were 'foreign' to Sky High at the time they attended, so perhaps that explains it.

But that only made me more curious, so I looked back at the remaining senior facts. The second to last one gave the clubs and extracurricular activities she was involved in and I wasn't surprised that there was only one listing: Mad Science Club, confirming her dad's words that that was the only place Sue was accepted. The last one was named _Plans after Graduation_, and as I had suspected that would have something mediocre listed like the other seniors, it wasn't.

It was blank.

Nothing. Zip.

"Guess that confirms that too." I said, remembering my dad's speculation that Sue just disappeared after graduation. "Why does this bother me so much!" I demanded of myself, roughly rubbing my face.

Suddenly, there was a loud, deliberate knock sounding from behind me, making me jump with surprise and slam the yearbook shut. I looked over my shoulder and felt confusion, as well as relief, wash over me, when I saw Lash waving at me from my window. I gave him a curious, 'what in the world are you doing' look to which he responded by pointing to the latch on my window.

After clearly understanding him, I pushed the yearbook back underneath my essay and moved to sit on my bed that sat right underneath the window. I quickly unlocked the latch and pushed my window upwards, welcoming in the fall air and the cheeky smile of Jake 'Lash' Livingston.

"What are you doing here, Lash?" I asked him, then realized something. "And how are you even standing here, my room is on…" I trailed off as I leaned out of my window and saw his feet planted safely on the grass of house but his legs were stretched up high enough to reach my second story window. "Oh, that explains it." I concluded with a nod.

I pulled back into my room, but folded my arms on the windowsill in front of Lash, who mirrored my movements onto the leftover space in the window.

"I was just in the neighborhood, decided to come by and say hello." Lash said.

"And using my front door was too hard?"

"That's boring. This seemed like more fun." Lash replied simply.

I rolled my eyes at his childish antics that I used to find sort of aggravating, but now they appear nothing but usual and adorable to me. "Right. Because using my door for its main purpose, is much too simple for you. Don't you feel bad for depriving it of its only use?"

Lash waved his hand around in a familiar pattern. "Oh, pshhh—"

"Details?" I said for him, knowing his excuse by now.

Lash smirked knowingly and nodded. "Details."

Our laughter joined together for a short moment before we recovered and I leaned a little bit more on the sill, Lash doing the same.

"So, what was it you wanted to visit me for again?" I asked, putting us back on the original subject.

"Oh, yeah." Lash said, his face turned a bit serious, but he continued on with a light tone. "Well, like I was saying earlier, I was in the neighborhood because Gwen called the homecoming committee together at her house to—"

I lifted a hand to stop him. "You're on the homecoming committee?"

"Don't sound so surprised!"

I gave him a look. "But…I am surprised."

Lash feigned offense. "Oh, shut up."

"I am just playing around with you, Lash…sort of." I assured him. "So, what was the meeting for then, if you are a member?"

Lash's face flashed serious again before he gulped and started to explain again, a slight hesitance in his voice. "Oh…the meeting…well, it was about…well, you know, homecoming stuff."

I nodded slowly, feeling slightly suspicious at his tone of voice and it poked me in the wrong way, but decided against questioning it. "Right…"

"And…umm…" Lash seemed to gather himself back into his normal self, "Well, all the talk about homecoming got me thinking that I hadn't found a date yet."

I raised my eyebrows at that, realizing that homecoming was indeed in a few days and I was in the same situation as Lash. Perhaps, I was too involved in my head to notice my slight predicament but at the same time, I think I had a good idea of where this conversation was going.

I wasn't complaining.

So I mastered an indifferent look on my face and said airily, "Oh, really. To be honest, I had actually forgotten that homecoming was coming up soon…"

"Well, it's a good thing I reminded you of it." Lash said, with a bright smile.

"And why is that?" I asked, doing well to hide my small moment of eagerness.

Lash shifted a little bit closer on the window sill, his nose almost touching mine and his eyes on the same level as my own. He smiled as he gathered his words into a sentence.

"Because…" Lash started out slowly, meandering with his words. "I was wondering and hoping that you could possibly do me the honor of—"

The shrill sound of an electric guitar riff played over the rest of Lash's sentence and I instantly recognized the voices of Bowling for Soup singing as my set ringtone. I turned my head and saw my phone sitting on my desk, its screen lit up and vibrating wildly, making it dance across my desk. I crawled off my bed and grabbed my phone, glancing at the name flashing on the screen.

_Layla_

I sighed and looked at Lash, who looked rather aggravated at the interruption but forced a patient smile for me. I glanced at my phone again as it continued to ring. With a sigh, I answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Lexi? Thank God, we need your help on the Mad Science essay, now we can't remember if—"

"Layla, can you hold on a second, please?" I told her, interrupting her rant.

I put my hand on the mouthpiece and walked over to the bed where Lash was still waiting by the window, resting my knee on the edge of my bed.

"I have to take this otherwise my friends will have a meltdown and I will never hear the end of it." I told him, feeling a bit guilty at having to ditch him in the middle of his request for a phone call. But I knew that if I didn't, I'd be subject to whining for the next couple of days. "I'm sorry, Lash."

Lash had look of disappointment on his face but he gave me a small grin anyways as he shrugged. "It's alright. We'll just finish this at school." He gave a small wave.

"See you later." I returned, with a smile.

He smiled once more before I saw his upper body shrink down from my window sill. I plopped down on my bed and took my hand off the mouthpiece of my cell phone, prepping myself to hear four voices clashing at once. But I stopped short, as I heard Lash's voice call up to me again.

"Hey! Lexi!"

I replaced my hand over the mouthpiece and turned around, crawling to the window and leaning out to see Lash standing below at his normal height.

"What!" I called down to him.

Next thing I know, Lash stretched himself back up to the height of my window, appearing right in front of my face. With a quickness I believe he learned from his good friend Speed, Lash leaned forward and pecked my cheek before pulling back with a mischievous smile.

"See you later." He said to me, before shrinking back to his normal size and making his way off my lawn. He paused on the sidewalk, glanced at me from over his shoulder and waved one more time before disappearing around the corner of my street.

I sighed heavily, touching the warm spot on my cheek where he had kissed me and unconsciously smiled. But my small little moment was interrupted by the sound of Layla's voice coming from my cell phone, still clutched in my hand.

"Lexi! Lexi! Are you still there?"

With a bit of reluctance, I pulled myself into my room and got back on the phone.

**Thoughts? Opinions? **

**Till next time! Love you guys!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey everyone! So far, I would like to thank all of you for your lovely thoughts and reviews! They are so kind and I am thankful to have your support. So without further ado, here's a new chapter…and its obligatory disclaimer.**

**I do not own anything in Sky High, just my original characters and the minor alterations made to the plot **

**On with the story!**

Chapter 13:

"So…any of you planning on going?" Magenta asked in a deadpanned voice as she ripped the poster for our homecoming dance off my locker door where it looked like it was deliberately placed.

"I don't have a date." Ethan sighed, sadly.

"Me either." Magenta said.

In the corner of my eye, I saw Zach gain a cheerful glint in his eye and there was a hint of a smile on his face. He suddenly took up his normal over confident stance as he shrugged indifferently, something he must have picked up from Magenta.

"Same here. You know, homecoming kind of stinks anyways—"

"I was still planning on going anyways." Magenta interrupted him.

Zach jumped to correct his statement, trying to play it off casually and naturally. "Oh, yeah. Totally. Me too."

Layla and I shared a look of mutual understanding, silently giggling at Zach's obvious attempts to get Magenta's attention. We knew Zach was a natural attention attractor, but we have been starting to notice these last couple of weeks that he's been giving bit more of an effort to get Magenta to give him a second glance. It was like Layla and Will all over again. And like Will, Magenta seemed completely unaware of Zach, as she brushed off his words and turned to Layla and me.

"What about you two?"

"Well, Layla's got Warren chained down long enough to be her date for homecoming." I spoke for Layla, meeting her scowl with a grin. She was aware that I still didn't fully back her up on her convoluted plan to rile up Will, even if Warren was willing to be a part of it.

"You're one to talk." Layla said, poking me in the shoulder.

"Meaning?" I asked, turning the lock on my locker door.

"Meaning, that I have a very solid assumption that either you already have a date or you are going to be asked very soon." Layla stated very confidently.

"Yeah, I second that." Magenta piped up, followed by Zach and Ethan.

"Me too."

"Me three."

I paused in opening my locker to glance at my friends, who were looking at me knowingly with their hands perched halfway up in the air, giving a show of hands of their obvious support and belief of Layla's words. There was a silent understanding among us of who they were actually thinking about for said 'date', but none of them had the stomach to name him out loud. I've said it before: they tolerate Lash, in a weak sense of the word, but that's as far as it goes for my friends. But despite that, they still believed Lash would be the homecoming date in both of Layla's instances. And I'd be lying if majority of my mind believed her too.

But I'd never assume too much. Even if it was very clear.

"You guys are being ridiculous." I told them, playing myself off casually and indifferent. I shook my head as they collectively sighed and yanked my locker door open.

Just as I did though, something tumbled from the top shelf of my locker. Curious, I bent over to pick it up and found it to be a bright, white daisy. I looked around, wondering how it ended up in my locker and why it was there in the first place, but was instantly answered when I saw a flash of black and white turning the corner down the hall.

And despite my small amount of suspicion, I smiled, as I was reminded of yesterday's little visit.

"Who's that from?" Ethan asked.

"Ten bucks says it's from Lash." Layla sang quietly from beside me.

"Ten bucks says the bell is going to ring." I countered, the warning bell punctuating my sentence. "Well, would you look at that." I stated with an impish grin, as I pulled my textbook out of my locker and tucked the daisy away in between the pages, its top poking out of the top.

My friends rolled their eyes at me as they turned to walk towards our next period, obviously recognizing my words as anything but serious. We started on down the hallway toward our Hero Support History class, when I tried my hand at another joking quip to lighten up the mood.

"But….I wasn't joking about the ten bucks, guys." I told them seriously, stopping in the middle of the hallway.

They all stopped and turned to me, looking momentarily skeptical and humorless before eventually breaking into full out laughter that I soon joined in on without many protestations to the fact they couldn't take me seriously. Then again, I was laughing too, considering that I never did fit the money-taking, betting, bullying persona.

Coincidentally, while our little laughing episode occurred, Will came walking down the hallway, Gwen adorning his side in all her pink glory. Our laughing slowly subsided as Will discreetly slowed down and looked at us, a wistful look on his face like he missed laughing with us…and I was almost sure that he did. Sadly, one by one, each of us dropped our gazes from Will, me being the last do so until Gwen tugged on his arm and pulled him down the hall and away from us.

Seems to be becoming a routine around here.

"Come on. We're going to be late." I told them quietly, drawing their attention away from the retreating form of Will.

There was a sigh and they turned around and started to walk to class again. But Layla stuck around for a second. I backed up a bit and tapped her on her shoulder.

"Layla, come on."

Her shoulders sagged in disappointment and she let me pull her down the opposite direction. I had the slightest temptation to tell her a small, tiny 'I told you so', but knew in the next instant that this wasn't the time and that she probably knew that on her own.

In due time, the bell rung once more signaling the end of Hero Support History, where we were subject to a forty minute long period of grueling lectures and a horrid pop quiz that did well to put our attentions off of our current distractions…for the meantime.

"Ok, that positively sucked." Ethan declared rubbing his eyes behind his glasses as we flooded out of class and headed for our blessed lunch period.

"Yeah, what did you guys get for number four, I was not sure if Tiger Man was bitten by a radioactive tiger, or bitten by a regular tiger then exposed to radiation." Magenta inquired as she passed us trays from the lunch line.

"I thought he was injected with a hybrid chemical of tiger genes and radioactive waste?" Layla said, grabbing a bottle of juice and reading its nutritional facts.

"Nope. I thought that he was just bitten by a radioactive tiger?" Zach chimed in.

I groaned, interrupting further discussion of that mind twisting quiz. "Guys, it's lunch time. Please can we not talk about the quiz?" I stole the juice bottle in Layla's hand and placed it on my tray beside my sandwich.

They all voiced their agreement and discussion of our nightmarish quiz was put to rest. As usual, we paid for all of our lunches and weaved our way through cafeteria till we arrived at the table that had become 'our' usual place of seating since we parted with Will: Warren's table.

I was the first to plop down with my tray across from the brooding Warren. His eyes flickered towards me and he nodded his head once in acknowledgment. I was soon followed by the rest of my friends, Ethan and Zach freely taking their seats beside Warren, both feeling extremely dangerous and tough when around him. I suppressed a small chuckle at the sight of Warren's hunched figure sagging at the presence of Ethan and Zach. Unfortunately, as Warren's presence seems to up Ethan and Zach's reputation, it puts a bit of a damper on Warren's efforts to be the lone wolf around here.

"Well, don't act too excited to see us." I told Warren, while I unwrapped my sandwich.

He grunted in response. "I'll try to contain myself." He deadpanned with his characteristic glare, making Zach pull away the arm he had casually situated on Warren's shoulder in an attempt to be somewhat brotherly and shifted a bit in his seat with a thick gulp.

Oh, he's warming up to them…very slowly.

"We aren't that bad, Warren. I mean, at least no one's been paying too much attention to us these last couple of days." Layla said in her usual voice of optimism.

Warren's eyes flickered away from us and to his left for a moment before he grunted another response. "Don't speak too soon."

Layla and I looked at him curiously before a very familiar pair of striped arms was found resting at the head of our table. The sight was easily found attractive in my eyes, so I couldn't help but look up and meet the eyes of a smirking Lash.

"What do you want, Lash?" Zach asked in his usual tone of confidence, like the rest of my friends at the current time, expecting nothing good of this visit.

Lash rolled his eyes at Zach. "Don't get your underwear in twist, Glow Boy. I'm not here to mess with you…or any of you for that matter."

That turned some heads, including Speed who was currently dawdling around behind Lash and looting out people's lunches when they weren't looking.

"You…aren't?" Ethan stammered, looking a bit more dumbfounded than when Lash kept Speed from challenging Will a while ago.

Lash seemed to have expected the surprise as he merely shrugged and played it off. "Of course not…for now at least." He said mischievously. "However, I need to talk to Lexi." Lash stated seriously, turning to look at me.

"Ok…" I said slowly as I stood up, figuring he'd want to go somewhere private.

"About what?" Magenta flat-out asked him.

He gave her a look. "Is that any of your business?"

"You're kind of making it everyone's business." Was her response.

I found she was actually very right about that, as I looked around us, feeling a little self conscious as I realized that people were starting to spare glances in our direction. Lash looked around and seemed to acknowledge to increasing amount of attention he was getting from just standing there.

"Ah, you're right…" Lash admitted, slowly turning around again. He had a thoughtful look on his face, like he was pondering something in his head. Finally, he zeroed in a look at me, the tell-tale, funny glint appearing in his eyes. "You know what…" He nodded to himself assuredly. "I've got a better idea. Watch this."

And before I knew it, Lash jumped on top of our lunch table, making his already tall height tower even more over everyone, effectively grabbing their attention. A loud gasp rolled across the cafeteria and I suddenly felt horrified as I looked up at Lash, who didn't look anything short of pleased with the current situation. I felt a large amount of gazes on me and I suddenly remembered that I was still standing up, drawing attention to myself. I dropped my behind in my seat again, ducking my head beneath my hand as I hissed at Lash in a quiet, but demanding voice.

"Lash, what, in the world, are you doing? Please, get off our table. People are starting to stare."

He didn't pay my words any heed…or rather he heard them, but chose not to listen. Lash turned to face the whole room, a wide, bright and stupidly confident smile decorating his face as he clapped loudly three times to grab more undivided attention.

"Everyone! Can I have your attention please?" He shouted out in a loud, deliberate voice.

"Oh Lord…" I squeaked to myself, as Lash continued to call for attention, which he received without much trouble.

"I have a very important announcement to make!"

Lash knelt down on our table in front of me and softly drew my hands away from covering my face, but somehow contrasted that gentlemanly action with a smirk.

"What are you doing?" I asked again, mortified with the turn of events.

He didn't answer my question directly but took both of my hands into his warm ones and without my permission, fully tugged me out of my seat and onto the table beside him. I felt a flush wash over my cheeks as I instantly felt the attention be equally placed on me.

I turned to look at Lash, hoping he was going to give me some explanation, but I found that he was still kneeling as he plucked the white daisy out from my book. Lash settled his eye back on me, his head tilting up as he held the daisy in one of his hands.

The cafeteria was stark quiet and I was in a rather frozen, confused state of mind. And Lash seemed to be aware of this as he easily used them to his advantage.

He gave me a boyish grin and wink from his kneeling position before he took on a very vociferous and deliberate, but very sweet, tone of voice as his explanation came in the form of a question I should have known was coming.

"I was hoping Lexi, that you would do me the absolute honor of being my date to the homecoming dance?"

It was then I was thoroughly pushed out of my confused state and the cafeteria became a loud mixed chorus 'Aw's' and groans. I looked around, seeing a mix of people who thought this was adorable and number of girls who seemed saddened or upset at the news of Lash asking someone to the dance, me in this case. I turned to Lash and bent over slightly to speak quietly enough for him to hear alone.

"You know, you are the absolute King of Subtlety, right?"

Lash smiled as he replied in his own quiet voice. "Well, I tried my hand at subtlety and it didn't work out quite so well." I lightly laughed as my assumptions on the purpose of yesterday's visit were confirmed.

"So you decided to do this with a bit of style and flare?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I thought I wouldn't risk any chance of being interrupted again. Besides…" He beckoned me forward with the crook of his finger as he whispered in my ear in an almost silent voice. "I needed to ask you before any of the other guys grabbed the chance."

I looked away, feeling the warmth tinge my cheeks, as I was not aware that other guys were going to try their hand at asking me. But that was confirmed as I looked around again and found a few guys sitting down at their tables, looking disheartened at the current situation. But then again, I think they were aware that they couldn't have beat Lash in any way, shape or form. And when I looked at the particularly confident and almost smug look on Lash's face, I knew he knew this too.

And as irritating as that should have been to me…I had to admit that I knew it was true.

"So what do you say?" Lash asked loudly, pulling me from my thoughts and reminding me that we were still in the cafeteria where everyone was waiting through our small hushed conversation.

Lash stood back up on his feet, still a good amount taller than me, and patiently waited for my response. I looked at everyone else, taking in the expectant faces, the confused faces, the mortified faces, but rounded back to the hopeful, genuine look on Lash's face.

I lowered my head, smiling to myself, before taking the daisy from Lash's hands where a tingle embodied itself in my fingertips at the small moment of contact. I looked back up at Lash.

"I suppose I could spare you the honor."

The majority of cafeteria started to applaud and cheer as Lash used one of his arms to pull me close to him so he could press a discreet kiss to my temple. I smiled at Lash, both of us content at the moment. But when I looked at specific people, I felt my contentment teeter a bit. My table of friends looked like they had no idea what to make of the situation. Will was full on unhappy. And it seemed like Lash was in the same boat, as he looked at his best friend who was shaking his head in disbelief.

"Total wuss move man…" Speed muttered before walking off.

Lash looked saddened and turned to me. "I'll talk to you later."

"Go."

Lash nodded and jumped off the table, following the same path Speed had left.

The cafeteria returned to its original state and Layla, who was the first of my friends to recover, tugged on the leg of my jeans.

"Lexi, I think you might want to get off the table now."

"Oh, right." I said, embarrassed that I had momentarily forgotten where I was, and quickly climbed off the table.

When I calmly returned to my seat, my friends were trying to eat normally but they all had a blank look on their face, but I decided to let them come around to the idea…eventually.

I knew I had. Obviously.

I was midway through eating my sandwich in silence when Layla elbowed me in the side. I stopped eating and looked at her, with a silent 'what?'.

She leaned over and quietly said, in a sing-song teasing voice, "Called it."

I roughly elbowed her back and told her in serious voice to eat her salad, despite the smile that was sitting in the back of my mind.

**So, now I have to admit that writing this chapter was slightly difficult and at some points I was not fully happy with it. So I hope I was able to at least make it satisfactory to you all!**

**Much Love, Nevermore *Camille***


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey, readers! So here I am with a brand new chapter, this one, I admit, is a bit of that teenage angst I was talking about early on. It's not wholly dramatic, but I'd like to think this is the opening act (so to speak) to my personal favorite part of Sky High, the dance.**

**So without further ado, here is Lash with the disclaimer.**

**Lash: Nevermore-x, or Camille, does not own me or anything that has to do with Sky High. All she does own, is the lovely Miss Lexi, her family, and laptop to keep her busy.**

**Camille: you make me sound like a hermit. *Huddles in corner of the room***

**Anyways! On with the chapter!**

Chapter 14:

So, in light of the fact that my list of reasons for attending the homecoming dance had gained enough grounds to keep me from making excuses to not go, I was immediately subjected to obligatory dress shopping with Layla and Magenta, mostly by Layla's insistence.

It was early Saturday morning, seven in the morning to be exact, when Layla came ringing my doorbell and despite my protests, dragged me out of bed. Don't get me wrong, I didn't mind dress shopping for dances, but I minded when people were waking me up too damn early in the morning to do just that. But no matter, for the love of my best friend and the fact that I did need to find a dress for myself, I got myself out of bed and out the door with Layla. Magenta was easier to pick up, as she was already up by the time we came by her house. And with our female trio being complete, we headed for the outlet mall and spent the next couple of exhausting hours finding the right dresses. Needless to say, we did find the 'perfect' dresses, as any stereotypical girl would say, each of them appropriate for ourselves and decided to grab something to eat at the local café on our way home.

But that's when things started to get weird again.

You can imagine that when I offered to go inside to make our orders at the counter, I didn't expect to see Gwen and her 'homecoming committee', which strangely only consisted of Lash, Speed and Penny (but considering Penny could duplicate herself that counts as whole lot more), sitting at one of the shady tables in the back, looking as if they were in intense conversation. I quickly made our orders, doing my best to act like I didn't know they were there, but that was extremely hard to do when all of them look oddly uncharacteristic at the moment. I mean, Gwen held a dark look in her eyes while the rest of them were looking far more serious than their normal demeanors, uncomfortable at the most. And what else made it hard to not pay them mind, was the fact that in order for me to pick up the food I had to stand at the other side of the bar that was right in the view of their table. So the most I could manage with my efforts was to act nonchalant and keep my eyes on the coffee makers behind the counter, till our food was handed to me in a paper bag.

"Hey, Lexi!" Gwen's cheerful voice suddenly called out to me the minute I grabbed our food.

Damn, there goes my efforts.

I slowly turned around and acted utterly surprised at seeing them, probably looking like a botched acting attempt but it was believable to them. Gwen had lost that dark look and was waving excitedly with a bright smile and it literally seemed like someone changed the lighting and environment near their table.

"Oh, hey, Gwen." I said, politely.

She beckoned me over with the wave of her hand and after much personal deliberation, I complied, slowly making my way over.

"Hi, guys." I said, awkwardly greeting the rest of them. Speed and Penny waved me off uncaringly, but Lash gave me a crooked smile, to which I was glad to return the gesture.

Gwen got a funny look in her eye as she saw this before grabbing my arm in grip that demanded my attention.

"We were just talking about homecoming and I just wanted to confirm that your parents are attending."

I nodded my head at the seemingly casual and less than suspicious question. "Yeah, I believe my parents confirmed their attendance."

"Oh, perfect! The night would have been incomplete without them there." Gwen said, sounding creepily excited, her eyes gaining a mysterious glint in them as she stared out the window.

I gave her an odd look. "It would have?"

Gwen suddenly recalled I was there and her demeanor shifted back to her perky self as she corrected herself. "Yeah, I mean, how can we honor our greatest heroes if only half of them are there?"

"Half?"

"Yes. The Strongholds will be attending as well. I thought Will would have told you that." Gwen said, far too innocently for me to take it honestly.

But I bit my tongue and gave a short shake of my head. "Well, we haven't had much time to talk about much at all, lately." I said, sounding a bit harsher than I intended.

Gwen's cheery expression didn't falter as she shrugged and we fell quiet, giving me the signal that there was nothing left to talk about. So with that, I straightened up, painting a carefree smile on my face and bid them a good day, despite it being forced. Speed and Penny didn't mind me, Gwen merely waved and Lash was the only one to give me a smile.

But his smile didn't reach his eyes.

And the weirdness didn't end there.

In fact, it was just the beginning.

My suspicions started to rise Monday morning of Homecoming week and for some strange reason, my instincts were constantly on edge. But I had a reason to be. Things around Sky High were in full swing for Homecoming, and I tried to be in a good mood about it. But while the decorations went up, I kept seeing multiple Penny's in hushed conversations with Gwen around corners and Speed seemed to be backing off on his daily tormenting, which was completely odd to say the least. And sadly, I'm starting to say the same about Lash's appearances too. It was fine at first, he'd find me at my locker and we'd have a decent conversation, but that's it. Now, I hardly see him, my chances of catching him anywhere around school have become slim to nil. I try not to think too much about, thinking that he's just busy with 'homecoming' stuff…whatever that is…

But you can't blame me for feeling wary about all this.

"Lexi…Lexi?" A hand on my shoulder brings me out of my ruminations and I become aware that I have been pushing around the pasta noodles on my lunch plate for awhile now, not making any effort to actually eat it.

It's Thursday, the day before the dance and my suspicions are really starting to drown me…as you can see.

I look to my right where Layla was looking at me worriedly.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

I nodded my head and gave her a weak smile. "Of course, I am. Why what's up?"

"Well, I was just asking if I can come over after school and hang out, you know have a girls' night before the dance tomorrow. But it looked like you were interested in dissecting your pasta instead." She said, poking my pasta to seem a bit more light hearted and humorous.

"Sorry about that. But of course you can come over, you don't have to ask you know. You're already family around the Storm house." I told her honestly, with a smile.

Layla smiled warmly. "Alright, then cool. It'd be nice to see your parents again." She said, but I was off poking at my lunch absent mindedly that all I really heard was 'nice' and 'parents'.

"Lexi." Her tone was serious now as she took my fork from me and made me look at her.

I sighed and stood up, feeling a sudden chill run down my back. "Sorry."

"Are you sure you're ok?"

"Dandy." I said, putting on another smile. "Look, I'll be right back, I want to get my sweater from my locker."

I left the cafeteria and walked the empty hallways to my locker. But as I passed the nearest classroom door to my locker, I heard a faint scuffle. I paused for a moment and realized that the shade had been pulled down over the glass window and there were no noises coming from the room, convincing me that I may have just been hearing things. I brushed it off and continued onto my locker, spinning the combination and opening the door smoothly when I got there. I fiddled around in my locker for a few minutes, making a grab at my sweater. But I paused again, when I heard voice coming from the classroom and another couple of scuffling steps. The voices were hushed but sounded urgent and I peered curiously from around my locker door while my hand blindly groped for my sweater and gave a tug when I found it. Unfortunately, it knocked over a book on its way out and it hit the floor with a dull the thud. I cursed under my breath and bent over to pick it up, just as the classroom door swung open.

"….you're getting too attached." Someone said sternly.

I looked up and saw Lash being backed out of the room by Gwen. Lash, for once, looked nervous and his eyes were flickering around the hallway, suddenly landing on me.

All of a sudden, I felt like a deer in headlights.

"Lexi!" Lash exclaimed.

Gwen's head whipped in my direction and her demeanor took an interesting turn as she took a deep breath and fiddled with her hair, settling back in its perfect little position.

"Hi, Lexi!" She greeted, her smile doing nothing but giving me funny feelings…not the good kind.

"Ummm…hey."

"What are you doing here?" she asked, simply.

"Just….getting my sweater." I said innocently, showing her my cardigan in my hand.

"Oh, I see."

She nods her head once before saying nothing else and walking out of the room, Penny and Speed following on her heels. Lash was left alone and I saw him deeply sigh at the retreating figures of his friends. He glanced at me for a moment, with a half-hearted smile before it slowly fell away and he turned on his heel, following the same track his friends were on.

I frowned, shutting my locker door slowly and pulling on my sweater.

Either I am being pushed away silently, or I may have just heard something I shouldn't have heard.

I am willing to bet I am just being paranoid.

But then again, this whole damn week I've been paranoid.

Later on that day, Layla and I were walking back to my house after riding the bus home. She was talking on and on about her plans for dressing up for the dance tomorrow, to which I paid more than half of a mind. We got to my house and after a nice greeting with my parents, headed up stairs. Being the good students, we are, Layla and I completed what little homework the teachers assigned, in light of homecoming week. But after that, Layla again voiced her knowledge of my lack of attention, which even I was unaware of.

"Lexi, you're doing it again." She said, slamming her text book shut.

I turned my gaze away from my window and directed it at Layla, questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"Lexi, you've been spacing out all week, I just haven't said anything. What's going on? Is it Lash?" She asked, with her face full of concern.

I shook my head instantly. "No, it's not Lash…at least I don't think it is."

"What are you talking about, Lexi?"

I took in a deep breath, as I realized this was the appropriate time I was waiting for to share what 'puzzle pieces' my mind has conjured up in its high school, paranoia-induced state.

" Layla, I need to tell you something."

It was easier than I expected to explain things to Layla. One, because Layla is an amazing listener, despite looking slightly skeptical of my suspicions, and two, because apparently I know a whole lot more than I thought I did, making my explanation easy to follow from Point A, the yearbook discovery, to Point B, this afternoon's little fiasco.

"Wait, wait…so you think this Sue Tenney is like Gwen's mom?" Layla asked.

"Or a ridiculously close relative of some sort or a past doppelganger." I said, getting off my bed and retrieving my yearbook. "Either way…Here, look for yourself." I push the yearbook towards her with the page opened to the senior portraits.

"Woah. That's creepy." Layla said, after looking at the picture.

"My thoughts exactly."

"But when you come down to it, it's just a picture. I mean, what does that tell us?"

"Not much, I realize that. But, like I said, these past few weeks I've been getting really strange vibes off of Gwen, and I don't like them…at all." I concluded, sounding very sure of myself, which is ironic because I haven't been sure about myself lately.

Layla sighed and she looked at the photo again, her eyebrows knitting together in thought.

She finally looked up at me and suggested, "We should go talk to Will about this."

"You sure you just don't want to make amends with him?" I asked, suspicious of her somewhat innocent ulterior motive.

"Well, you should know it's about time we do that." Layla said quietly.

"Says the girl who has been fake dating Warren Peace for the past few weeks to make Will jealous." I quipped.

"Hey! I get it, it was sort of a bad idea." She confessed.

"Sort of?" I quirked an eyebrow at her.

Layla groaned. "Ok, fine. It wasn't my brightest idea. But right now, we have to go talk to Will." She said, grabbing my wrist and tugging me out of my seated position on my bed.

"Oh, alright. I have to agree. We need our trio back." I admitted before leading the way out of my room. What I didn't tell Layla, though, was that I had already attempted my own personal warning to Will. But, you know what they say, third times the charm, right? We might as well give it another shot.

We ran downstairs where my parents were resting in the living room. They looked up at us from whatever was keeping them busy, giving us questioning looks as we paused in the middle of the staircase.

"And where are you girls off too?" My dad asked, closing up the lab report he was reading and adjusting his glasses.

"We were going to Will's house…" I explained.

"Oh." My dad sat back in his seat, no longer suspicious. "Alright, well, have fun, say hello to the Strongholds for me!"

Unfortunately, my parents have been oblivious to the tension that's been going around our friend circle. But then again, I can't blame them. Between distress calls and lab works, my parents hardly have time to pay much attention to my friendship squabbles.

So with my parents' approval underneath my belt, Layla and I left and walked down the street with deliberate steps as we now had good reasons to go see Will. Not that we didn't have any reasons before, it's just now we actually aren't blinded by our stubbornness to do so.

But as we took a step onto the pavement near Will's house, our purpose of heading there in the first place started to diminish. As we came to stand in front of the house, we found that a low musical bass was riveting through the ground and lights were pulsating through the windows.

Layla and I looked at each other, equally confused at the sight.

"What in the…" I trailed off.

"Party?" Layla asked.

I shrugged. "Guess we're about to find out. Come on."

We slowly ambled up the walkway and let ourselves into the front door, considering it was a party and usually one just let's themselves in at these shindigs. We took one step into the house and I found it to be nearly filled to its maximum capacity with the Hero Class of Sky High. Music was spilling from the speakers and someone created a disco ball with one of Mrs. Stronghold's crystal vases.

"Incoming!" Someone shouted.

My eyes widened as I saw a football coming our way.

"Duck!" I shouted, yanking Layla down by the arm, the football barely brushing my head as it flew outside. I jumped up and pulled Layla up with me and out of the way just as a group of rowdy teenage boys piled out the door, chasing the ball.

"Um, why don't we split up?" Layla suggested over the loud music, as we tried, and failed, to locate Will amongst the crowds.

I nodded and we split off in opposite directions. I took to the route heading for the kitchen, while Layla weaved through the living room. It was slightly harder than I thought, considering there was a grind line going on right in the middle of the hallway and I had to literally karate chop my way through. With much difficulty, they let me squeeze through (without being touched thank God) but my foot got caught on someone's leg on the way there. I jolted and teetered forward, till a pair of hand held me steady by my forearms.

"Oh, goodness. Thanks…sorry about that—Lash?" I stopped myself as I straightened up and did in fact find Lash in front of me, despite the dim lighting that created a funny haze over anyone's features.

"Hey, Lexi!" He greeted loudly over the music, with a grin that was definitely a turn from what I had been seeing all week. It made me relax to think he was back to his normal self and it was also comforting to think that there was the slightest chance that things weren't as bad as I thought.

"Wow, no stripes this time!" I noted his black jumper clad body, with minor appreciation at the different look.

"Always the tone of surprise." Lash retorted.

"How can you tell over this music?" I said loudly, as someone had increased the volume of the speakers a significant amount that it would require yelling for communication with anyone within conversing distance.

Lash laughed, seeming to have heard me anyway, and looked around before leaning over to speak in my ear. "You're right! Come on, let's find somewhere quiet! I want to talk to you about something!"

I nodded in agreement and felt him take my hand. He led us down the hallway, thankfully no grind line in the middle this time as someone disbanded it, and straight upstairs. Lash led us down the hall and opened the first door to his left, which I should have told him was the bathroom. Unfortunately, it was already occupied by a rather familiar pair…making out. However, the minute Lash threw the door open the pair jumped apart, revealing to us a very embarrassed looking Speed and Penny.

"Egh…" Lash made a funny sound in the back of his throat.

"Get out!" Speed shouted at us, grabbing the door.

"And I swear if you tell anyone about this I'll—" Penny's threat was cut short as the door slammed shut.

I don't want even want to know the end of that statement.

"I am going to act like I didn't see that." I declared, getting over my momentary shock.

Lash nodded his head. "Yeah, I think I'm going to do that too. Come on."

He tugged on my hand and walked us further down the hall, till we came to Will's bedroom. This time, Lash was cautious in opening the door, to ensure for little chance of catching anyone else in an 'intimate embrace' (Pfft, right). When he was sure it was void of anyone else, Lash pulled us into the room and shut the door behind us, closing us off from the party downstairs.

Lash let go of my hand and started to pace around the room, looking around.

"Is this you guys?" Lash suddenly asked from across the room.

I turned around and walked over to his side, almost tripping on one of Will's strategically placed piles of clothes, where he was currently looking at a photo sitting on Will's dresser. The photo was a memory caught in time, showing myself, Will, and Layla sprawled out on Will's roof when we were twelve.

I nodded my head as I looked at the picture, remembering the happy feelings associated with it. I've said it before that our childhood years were so much easier.

"So, uh…what was it you wanted to talk about?" I asked, walking to the other side of the room.

"About earlier, in the hallway during lunch…" Lash started.

"Homecoming stuff, I assume?" I quickly interrupted, before I could stop myself. "Gwen looked very irritated. What did you do? Forget to put chips and dip on the snacks list for the dance?"

Lash let out a short chuckle, before he sighed. "Something like that. Look, about the dance tomorrow…"

"What about it?" I asked, not being able to mask my small amount of nerves.

Lash turned around and crossed the room over to me. He stood in front of me, scratching the back of his neck, as he started to uncharacteristically stumble over his words.

"I..er..um...are you…excited?" He asked dumbly, his face giving off the fact that was far beyond what he was going to say.

I looked at him weirdly but answered him anyways, deciding not to force him into a logical explanation for his behavior change. "Um…yeah, very much so…should I not be?"

"Oh no! Yeah, it's good you're excited! I-it's going to be great!" Lash said, trying to sound happy but it was a half-hearted attempt. But no sooner did he lower his head and take in a breath.

"But..damn…ok…I have to do this." He hissed to himself, before looking me square in the face and starting with determination. "Lexi, about Homecoming tomorrow, something…something is going to—"

"Unbelievable! When I get to the count of three, I want everyone OUT OF THIS HOUSE!"

Both Lash's and my own eyes widened in fear and shock as the booming and dangerously angry voice of the Commander emanating and rumbling through the whole house.

"Crap." Both of us said in unison, as the house started to shake with everyone making their escape, much like a herd of elephants if you ask me.

Lash grabbed onto my hand and bolted for the bedroom door, but I stood my ground and yanked him back.

"Don't go back out there, you genius! Do you want to have your head knocked off by the Commander? Come on, I've got an idea!" I whispered to him urgently.

I pulled him towards the window and singlehandedly shoved it open. I climbed out, waving my hand behind me to tell Lash to follow me. When he was out behind me, I grabbed his hand again and quickly led us across the small expanse of the roof and down the tree. Once we were safely on the ground, Lash's hand tightened around mine and we took off down the street in a general direction that neither one of us were really thinking about. Soon we arrived in different part of the neighborhood that was significantly quieter than where we were before, coming to a stop right outside my house. The lights were still on in the front rooms, so I placed my forefinger in front of my lips to signal for quietness. He quickly complied and followed me quietly as I carefully maneuvered myself to the side of my house, where my mom's lattice was positioned underneath my bedroom window. Together, we quietly and swiftly climbed up the lattice and hoisted ourselves into my bedroom, without so much a thump from when our feet hit the carpet of my bedroom.

We both straightened up after climbing in, our breaths sounding slightly labored from the running and climbing. We looked at each other, taking in each other's disheveled appearances and burst out in low, triumphant chuckles.

"God, I can't believe we just did that." I said quietly, straightening out Lash's hair and his crooked collar.

"Yeah, it was like the 'Great Escape'!" Lash said, mimicking my gestures as he flattened my windblown hair behind my ears, discreetly caressing my jaw with his thumb before pulling away.

"Yeah, it was…minus the gigantic prison, and possible sentencing to death if we were caught." I quip.

"Your sarcasm astounds me." He deadpanned.

"As it should." I say proudly, brushing his sleeve off one last time. "Now, what were you saying before we had to make said 'Great Escape'?"

Lash's right smile faltered and he diverted his eyes to look around my room. "You've got a nice room." He commented.

I quirked an eyebrow. "Ok, thanks. But…stop jumping subjects. What did you want to tell me?" I urged him again, turning his face towards me with the tips of my fingers.

He took my hand from his face and held it tightly in between us. "What I was trying to say about homecoming is that something very danger—"

His sentence was so rudely cut off once more by the sound of my bedroom door slamming open, revealing the none-too-pleased figure of my dad standing at the doorway. His jaw was tensed, eyes narrowed, and arms folded across his chest. Behind him, my mom stood, peering in like an innocent bystander.

I quickly dropped Lash's hand and shoved him a few inches further away from me.

"Dad…" I squeaked.

My dad lifted a hand to keep me from speaking and spoke in a very stern fashion, looking right at Lash, who was shifting uncomfortably under my dad's gaze.

"There is an appropriate time and place to speak with my daughter, and it is **not **at ten o'clock at night in her bedroom. Do you understand, son?"

Lash, still frozen by my dad's glare, numbly nodded and managed to mumble a respectable response. "Yes, sir. I-I'll just be going."

We all watched as Lash turned to my window and started to climb back out. I gave him a look, while my dad simply closed his eyes for a moment and sighed.

"Son." My dad said, stopping Lash before he stuck his Converse clad foot out the window.

Lash turned around. "Yes?"

"Use the front door."

"Oh, right." Lash laughed awkwardly before climbing back inside and scurried past me and out the door.

My dad turned to me. "Is he your date for the dance?"

I sheepishly nodded my head.

"Ah, I see." My dad said, coming into my room and taking a seat on my bed. He patted the spot beside him and I complied. "Lexi, I may trust you, but I do not trust boys at this day and age. And you have to understand that sometimes boys get…" I looked at my dad, mortified at the subject matter but he looked even more uncomfortable trying to explain it to me.

"Ok! Dad, I get it…I swear, I get it." I interrupted him, not wanting to hear the rest.

My dad looked thankful that he didn't need to continue. "Just…just no boys in your room unless they have our full approval. Agreed?"

I nod my head once and with conviction. "Agreed."

"Good. Now, get on to bed now, we have a long day for us tomorrow." My dad stood up, kissed my forehead, and left the room.

My mom was still in the hallway, a funny, little girly grin on her face as she pointed down the hall, to where the stairs were.

"That boy was very cute, Lexi. Good choice!" She whispered to me, making me gape incredulously at her.

"MOM!"

**So, I can only hope and pray that you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! I especially liked the last sequence with Lexi's dad LOL, but to each his own! Also, I am a little down just because I have a three hour assessment test I have to take tomorrow in order for me to prepare for my SATs this year…Yay! For Juniors! Whoop. **

**Anyways…this note is too long…you all know what to do Much love!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey, everybody! It's finally the homecoming chapter! I was so very anxious to write this part of the story, and I must make you aware that homecoming is going to extend over one chapter. I just don't think you can fit all the drama of the dance into one chapter…it wouldn't be fair. **

**So enough with my blabbering here is the disclaimer….I do not own Sky High or anything involved with it….I just own Lexi and her family….**

**Lexi: Yay! On with the story! To the dance! I have a good feeling this is going to be so much fun!**

**Camille: *looks around mischievously* For now….**

Chapter 15:

"Ouch! Good Lord!" I yelped to myself, rubbing the spot at the base of neck where the curling iron had accidentally touched again. I glanced at my cell phone on my bathroom counter, reading the digital numbers for the time and giving myself a forty-five minute mark till I had to be at the dance.

I looked at my reflection, taking in my normal figure as my refinements were being made. I had already taken a shower, did a few touch-ups in the makeup department, and was currently fussing, or having an adult argument is more like it, with my hair. With my hair being naturally pin-straight, I settled for simplicity and pinned it up in a half-ponytail, with plans to loosely curl the free-hanging ends. But seeing as my hair was also naturally stubborn, it was giving me an increasingly hard time at the moment.

"Lexi?" A knock came at my bedroom door, accompanied by the voice of my mother. "Are you almost done?"

"Er…I'm getting there." I called back, cursing under my breath as the curing iron came in contact with my skin again.

As you can see, I am not an adept wielder of hair styling products.

I heard chuckle and I saw my reflection in the mirror be joined by my mom, who looked stunning in her super hero costume, despite it being anything but formal. But her naturally beautiful figure and waterfall-like blonde hair made anything she wore look formal. I smiled at my mom, admiringly, while she smiled down at me warmly.

"Here, let me help you, sweetheart." She said, taking the curling iron from my hands and started to curl my hair for me.

I sighed and relaxed as she took over. "Thanks, mom."

"No problem, honey." She replied, continuing with the task of curling the ends of my hair. "So is your date—"

"Lash." I inserted the name for her.

She looked up at me curiously in the mirror. "Lash?"

"Hero name…" I clarified for her.

"Oh, I see." She nodded understandingly. "Well, is Lash going to be picking you up?"

I shook my head. "I figured I should just go with you and dad, since you all are attending as well. Might as well enter as a family, right? At least, that's what I am assuming the Strongholds are doing too."

"You thought just like your father. You should have heard him last night, ranting on and on about how you shouldn't be dating just yet. I had to sit him down and explain the logic behind a freshmen girl having a date to homecoming. I mean, I assured him that your date is most likely respectable, fellow freshman that—"

"Actually, he's a senior." I corrected quietly.

My mom paused mid-ramble and gave me an incredulous look that soon became an impressed look. "A senior, you say?"

I ducked my head slightly and shyly nodded my head. I would never wrap my head around that basic, yet incredibly defining fact that drew some sort of line between Lash and I. But like everyone knew, sometimes you just got to cross those lines to get where you want to be, even if it twists some status quos. Lash would be proud of me for that one, because we all know he loves twisting rules.

"Wow, my daughter managed to have senior as her date for homecoming. Even I didn't go that far. Scandalous!" My mother jokingly gasped.

I rolled my eyes, feeling a blush coming on, but was smiling nonetheless at my mom's light-heartedness. This was one of the many reasons I loved my mom. "Mom, honestly?"

"Oh, I am only teasing, sweetheart." She said, consolingly as she pulled the curing iron out of another completed curl and lightly spritzed hairspray over my locks. "There, all done!"

I looked up at the mirror, to find myself rather contented with how my hair had turned out. It was much lovelier than I could have ever done, I can promise you that. With a grateful smile, I spun around and hugged my mom.

"Thanks." I told her.

"No problem, sweetheart." She replied, kissing me on the forehead before clapping her hands. "Now, go put on your dress! I want to see what you look like in it!"

I skipped out of the bathroom and right into my bedroom, where my dress was hanging on my closet door. I stared at my dress for a moment, appreciating my choice, before fussing with the plastic covering over the dress and eventually getting it off the hanger without potentially hurting it. Success. I slipped the dress on over my undergarments and, with little difficulty, zipped up the back.

I heard a gasp from behind me. "Oh, honey! You look so beautiful!"

I turned my closet door and to take in my reflection from the mirror. The dress I had ended up picking had a white bodice adorned with tiny flowers, a satiny blue ribbon rounded underneath the bust and the royal blue colored skirt flowed smoothly down to just above my knee. It was simplicity at its best, and it really all I asked for. I smiled and did a tiny twirl, the dress fanning out as I did.

My mom clapped her hands excitedly and then called out to my dad. "Daniel! Come look!"

"What is it? Are you girls ready? I have the hovercraft waiting—" My dad stopped short in the doorframe of my bedroom and gave me that look that dad's get when their little girls are growing up too fast.

"Dad, don't cry…it's just a homecoming dance…I'm not getting married or anything."

My dad laughed as he came into my room and kissed my forehead. "I know, I'm getting a hold of myself. You look very beautiful."

"Thank you." I said, giving him a hug.

"You're welcome. Now, we have got to get a move on, or we'll be late. I'd still like to be formally introduced to your date, young lady." My dad said, wagging his finger at me to enforce his point.

"Dad!" I moaned, but he was already heading out the door, waving the hover crafts car keys in the air.

"Downstairs, in five minutes, Lexi!" He called over his shoulder.

My mom giggled at the exchange before taking leave herself.

Now left alone, I went to my closet with the full intention of finding comfortable shoes to last the night. I had a very limited shoe collection, unlike some girls I assume, with only one pair of heels to save my life. But they were the ones I would only wear if the situation demanded it. I reached out for the heels, looked them over ponderingly, before putting them back in the closet. I fished around a bit and finally pulled out my opinion of a more…suitable pair of shoes. I smirked to myself and quickly pulled them on, just as I heard an engine rev and my parents call for me.

"Lexi, why are you wearing your Converse?" My mom asked calmly, when I slid into the back seat of my dad's specially designed hover craft, or as my dad likes to call it: 'one of his side line projects'.

"Because I would like to make it to the dance with both of my ankles and legs intact." I replied smartly, smoothing out my dress as the hover craft's safety belts, much similar to the belts used in the Sky High bus, were secured around my torso.

"I think her shoes are just fine." My dad stated approvingly, before putting the craft in gear.

My mom opened her mouth but the sound of the hovercraft lifting off the ground did well to mask her protestations. With the hover craft now up in the air, my dad backed it out of the lower garage of the inner sanctum and kicked the craft into hyper drive, sending us straight up to the clouds and out of civilian eyes. I felt the air rush past me and immediately worried that my curls would go to waste. But as soon as our craft hovered right above the cloud line, my dad slowed down and I touched my hair, which, surprisingly, suffered little mussing. We cruised onwards for a few more minutes before the lit up building of Sky High came into view. My dad maneuvered the craft safely onto the grounds of Sky High and we all got out. I was very proud to say I was solid on my feet after that flight, considering I've been doing it every day lately.

"Ah! Look the Storms are here!" A very familiar voice called out to us.

The three of us turned around to be greeted by the sight of the Commander and JetStream, or the Strongholds, flying toward us, their bright capes billowing behind them as they made a smooth landing. But I furrowed my eyebrows curiously, as I realized it was just the two of them.

"Steve! Josie!" My mom greeted cheerfully as she hugged both of their fellow super heroes.

"Hi, Lexi! Oh, look at you! You look so pretty!" Mrs. Stronghold said kindly.

"Thank you. Say, where is Will? I thought he was coming with you." I asked, casually, hiding a twang of worry.

Mr. and Mrs. Stronghold sighed and regretfully told me that Will had decided to not attend at all. From the looks of their faces, it seemed like it wasn't a pleasant announcement and Mr. Stronghold appeared far more affected by it than others. With that piece of news, I casually excused myself, telling my parents and the Strongholds I'd see them inside, and left them to their own entrance, which I was sure going to be a highlighted event.

I skipped up the steps of Sky High, taking in the bright spot lights illuminating the outside of Sky High. I made my way through the dim halls, following the sound of the thumping music till I arrived at the gym. I couldn't help but be surprised at the turn out of the gym. It was well-decorated and equipped, making it anything but boring.

_I'll have to give Lash some props for this one._

I looked around for my cheeky, swoopy-haired, elastic boy, but spotted my circle of friends, all spiffed up, first near the snack table, chatting up with Mr. Boy and made my way over.

"Well, take a look at these beautiful people." I said loudly, making them all pause in their current endeavors to turn and look at me, smiles stretching across their faces.

"Lexi! I knew that dress would look great on you!" Layla exclaimed, coming over to me and claiming me in a tight hug.

"I can say the same for you."

Layla, for once, had abandoned her pigtails and borderline juvenile wardrobe for shiny, bouncy curls and a long, green dress, since that was one of her only stipulations when she picked the dress: for it to be green. Altogether, she looked lovely…lovely enough to finally slap Will in the face with what he was missing…wherever he may be right now.

"Thanks! And—are you wearing Converse?" Layla asked, looking down at my feet with an arched eyebrow.

I looked down at my Converse, wiggling my toes up and down.

"Why yes. Yes, I am."

She continued to look at me now with both of her eyebrows arched.

"I'd like to walk comfortably on my feet by the end of the night, thank you very much." I told her, in my defense.

"Whatever you say, Lexi. Whatever you say." She giggled.

"Hey, where's Warren?" I asked, noticing someone else who was missing from our circle. "Shouldn't he be—Oh! There he is!"

Warren, who had actually entered at that moment, moseyed over to us, nicely donning a black tuxedo and his hair in its normal state. Layla and I greeted him kindly with waves as he approached.

"Wow, you look great, Peace." I commented, lifting the up the end of his coat.

"Thanks." Warren replied, cracking the smallest of smiles.

"I thought you said you weren't going to rent a tux?" Layla asked, looking surprised at his overall appearance.

"It's my dad's. He doesn't have much use for it in solitary." Warren said quietly enough for me and Layla to hear.

_Well, that just made things awkward._

Layla's eyes widened as she realized her mistake and I merely diverted my eyes to the bright disco ball in the ceiling of the gym. Suddenly Layla picked something up off the snack table and held it up to Warren.

"Cheese cube?"

Warren gave her weird look, while I mentally face palmed.

"Wow. Way to diffuse the tension there, Layla." I sarcastically joked.

Layla lightly scowled at me. "Not funny. Now, where's your date?"

"Hm?"

"Yeah, he made a show of asking you. Surely, he isn't ditching you now." Warren interjected.

"I actually found you guys first, but I should look for-"I cut off just as my eyesight was darkened by a pair of hands covering my eyes and I was easily struck with recognition. "I think I found him."

I peeled the hands off my eyes and turned around to find Lash standing at the opposite end of the gym, his arms extended across the empty space to reach me. I shook my head at him while he sent me a wink and beckoned me over.

"I'll see you guys." I told Layla and Warren before walking off.

There was a noticeable jump in my step that I showed no sign of suppressing too much as I made my way over. Lash, seeming almost as eager, didn't make me walk all the way over and met me halfway, where I was the first one to speak.

"Wow. Despite the stripes again, you clean up really well."

I smiled appreciatively as I looked over Lash's figure. Like I had mentioned, he was wearing one of his lucky striped long sleeve shirts, along with a white vest and royal blue tie that actually matched my dress color very well. The look in itself seemed casual, but Lash made it seem perfectly appropriate for the dance. Then again, I don't think he would have let anyone question his style choices.

Lash grinned in return. "Thanks. You look…great…er…pretty." His atypical stammer made his cheeks fleck with pink for a moment before he recovered with a smoother comment. "I like the dress….especially your shoes."

We both looked down at our feet where I found that both of us were donning Converse again for the night. We wiggled our toes simultaeneously, laughing as we realized we did it at the same time.

"Oh!" Lash suddenly said, like he recalled something. "This is for you." He lifted a small daisy in between his fingers, twirling it in a circle. I plucked it from his fingers, grinning gratefully, and tucked it underneath the ribbon of my dress. He held his hand out to me and I gracefully slipped my hand in his and it seemed like were about to engage in some form of pleasant past time.

But all of a sudden, the light fixtures in the gym pivoted towards one direction, the entrance, where four easily recognizable people stood tall and proud. Everyone's attention was drawn to the door and Principal Powers' voice echoed from the speakers as she made a loud announcement.

"Welcome! The Commander and JetStream! And Elemental and Invisible Woman! Sky High's proudest Alumni!"

The loud applause echoes all around and I joined in on them. Beside me, I noticed Lash was giving a weak attempt at an applause, but his eyes were fixated on somewhere behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and caught a glimpse of Gwen, looking pretty as ever, shedding a watchful eye at my parents and the Strongholds.

I suddenly felt a warmth wash over my hand and realized Lash had grabbed my hand. He tilted his head down to my ear.

"Take a walk with me." He suggested.

I nodded my head and we slipped out of the gym, just as Principal Powers announced that someone left their headlights on and introduced Gwen for a speech.

As soon as we were out of the gym, I expected us to walk at some moderate, allowing for conversation type of rate, but the minute we rounded the corner away from the gym, Lash's hand tightened around mine and he started to increase the pace at which we walked. No words were exchanged as Lash kept tossing glances behind his back and it was starting to make those unsettling feelings return to my stomach.

"Lash, what is wrong?" I asked, pulling his attention back to me.

He visibly relaxed a bit as we stopped in front of the Mad Science Lab. He peered around the hallway before taking both of my hands.

"Ok, Lexi, listen to me very carefully." He said, slowly. "What I am about to say, is probably not going to make much sense, but I need you to believe me."

"Well, go on then, say it!" I urged.

He took in a deep breath and finally blurted out. "Gwen is Royal Pain and she is planning on turning everyone in that gym into a baby."

My jaw fell open in a sheer mix of shock, confusion, and sudden realization that all my stupid paranoid and suspicious feelings were on target, but I could only manage to blubber out a response. "What? Why?"

Lash started to become fidgety and looked down the hallway again. We were far enough that we were out of the way, but close enough that we could still hear the echoes of what was going on in the gym.

"Because she—"

He was interrupted by a loud eruption of gasps and frantic shouting coming from the gym and this time both of us had to take a look down the hallway. But I barely grabbed a glimpse before Lash had me by the shoulders in a tight grasp.

"Lexi, you are going to hate me for this and I am sorry." He stated quickly.

"Wait-what're you—"

I never had the chance to complete my question before Lash threw open the door of the Mad Science Lab and shoved me inside. It took a moment for me to recover, but when I did, Lash had already yanked the door shut. I moved to the door, grabbing the knob and giving it a twist, only to find it locked—why this door locks from the outside I will never know. I looked out the window of the door to find Lash still standing on the other side.

"Lash, what, in God's name, are you doing! Open the door!" I demanded, a flurry of emotions starting to bubble to the surface. When Lash made no movement to comply with my requests, I slammed my hand hard against the glass of the window, bright blue bolts of electricity jumping and riveting off the surface.

"Lexi, I'm sorry. You have to understand this is the only way I can keep you safe right now." He admitted.

"Keep me safe? From what exactly?" I insisted angrily, despite the fact that my question was strictly rhetorical, however, I felt like there was far more to this explanation that just Gwen…er…Royal Pain turning people into babies.

"Royal Pain—"A loud commotion emanating from the direction of the gym grabbed Lash's attention. "I have to go. I'm sorry!"

"Lash!" I shouted through the glass as he disappeared down the hallway. "Don't you dare leave me in here! Lash!"

I knocked my knuckles against the glass a few times more, even slamming my palm down thoroughly rattling the door frame with my electricity bolts. I pulled away from the door, needing to get a hold on my emotions, for if I don't the Mad Science Lab is going to become a highly charged room that could potentially hurt people. But I found that keeping calm was virtually impossible right now. Gwen is Royal Pain. My assumptions were right. She plans on turning everyone in that gym into a baby. The gym where my friends are…where my parents are.

And my date has locked me in the Mad Science lab, with very little options of getting out.

"Damn it!" I growled.

Angry now, I suddenly threw my leg straight out and kicked the door. It did nothing to door, but sent a dull throb in my toe. I knew that if I was wearing heels tonight, that would have hurt immensely.

And suddenly, despite my current predicament, I started to laugh at myself.

"At least I chose the right shoe." I muttered, before straightening up at the fact that perhaps I had chosen the right shoe for **more** than just pointlessly kicking doors.

"I have got to get out of here." I concluded, with a heavy amount of conviction and determination.

**So our heroine is locked in the Mad Science Lab and the dance has fallen into haywire. What are our superheroes to do? Hmph…that's for the next chapter to answer…;)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey, guys! So many apologies for leaving you hanging for two days with no update. As usual, weekends are busy, and I have put myself on the hunt for Christopher Nolan's greatest works, especially after watch The Dark Knight Rises twice But, no matter. I also took a bit longer with this chapter because it has the most action I have written thus far, and I feel it's like the epic climax to Sky High! So without further ado, here is the next chapter! Please enjoy and be reminded that ****I do not own anything directly and indirectly associated with Sky High. I only own my OC.**

Chapter 16:

I'll admit it. I was slowly running out of ideas of how to get out of here.

Turning the knob was obviously not possible, the vents were, for some strange reason, too small to even consider crawling in for this specific classroom, the option for kicking the door down was not favorable and for the last couple of minutes I've resorted to some sort of shock therapy on the door knob but all it is doing is accepting the current and doing nothing to undo the lock. It was times like these where I wished my electricity powers did a bit more than light shows and shocking people.

With a frustrated sigh, I backed away from the door and leaned my back against the teacher's desk up front, my elbows knocking into something that clinked and made a sloshing sound. My eyebrows creased at the sound and I turned around to see what it was. Along the lab table, there were glass bottles with different colored liquids. I reached for the first nearest to me and turned it around till I found the label.

"'_Nitric Acid'_." I read off the label. I ran my finger down the label and read its caution facts listen underneath. "'_…corrosive to skin and can cause eye irritation…and is known to melt through common metals…except for gold and platinum.'"_

My head whipped up and I squinted at the door knob. It had a shiny silver finish to it, but it was far away from being gold and platinum—not that I would ever think Sky High had that high of a budget for its building.

_Yes_! I mentally exclaimed as the possibility made my internal light bulb flick on.

I immediately went to the cabinets and perused around in the dim lighting till I found an empty dropper bottle. I quickly, but with extreme care, I put some of the nitric acid into the dropper bottle and carried it with me to the door. I kneeled on the floor so I was level with the door knob and squeezed the dropper to suck up some nitric acid. With that, I carefully raised it out of the bottle and stuck it in between door frame and the door knob, where the latch was holding the door shut. And ever-so carefully, I squeezed the dropper and a few drops of nitric acid fell onto the latch. Instantly, upon contact, the nitric acid made a subtle sizzling sound as the metal started to disintegrate. I smirked happily as I heard the pieces of metal tinkle and fall onto the floor, and when the sizzling had ended, I grabbed the door knob and felt it had little to no resistance now.

Unable to contain my enthusiasm over my unbridled success, I got up off the floor and started to cheer quietly while jumping around in my spot. But I quickly contained myself as I felt the nitric acid slosh violently in the bottle and remembered that now was not the most opportune time to be cheering. I quickly recapped the dropper bottle, set it on the table, and yanked the door open, still cheering triumphantly in my head as I booked it out of the classroom and down the opposite end of the hall away from the gym.

No, I wasn't running away. But running towards the danger is not very smart either.

Just as I rounded the corner of the hallway, I turned my head and saw a very familiar Will Stronghold standing at the other end. Like me, his eyes were flitting cautiously around him for any sense of danger. But when his eyes found me, he seemed relieved.

"Lexi!" He called out, running down the hall toward me.

I couldn't help but feel less worried for my best friend, glad that he was here and not being turned into a baby…I wonder if he knew.

"Will!" I met him halfway down the hallway, throwing my arm around him in a quick one armed hug that was an obvious symbol of my happiness to see me.

"What happened? Where's Layla and everyone else?" Will asked urgently when we had pulled away.

"I don't know. I was hoping that—"

"Hey! I think I found an opening?" A voice that very much sounded like Zach came out through the slits of the air vent, accompanied back a very familiar greenish light.

Will and I shared a look of mutual understanding before Will grabbed the vent cover and, with his super strength, tore it cleanly out of the way, skipping the menial task of unscrewing the bolts altogether. But that proved completely unimportant as another ripple of relief came through me as I watched Zach, followed by friends, pour out of the vent.

"'Sup, kid?" Zach casually greeted Will.

"Oh my God! Lexi, we were so worried, we didn't know where you were! What happened? Where did you go?" Layla demanded as soon as she climbed out of the vent and tackled me into a vice grip, while the rest of my friends all gave me looks like they were glad that I was still in one piece.

I sighed and peeled myself out of her arms. "Well, to make long story short: Lash locked me in the Mad Science Lab."

"Wait? Why? How did you even get out?" Layla asked, tossing more questions at me, which happens to be her tendency when she's worried.

"A little bit of nitric acid goes a long way. And Lash's reasoning behind throwing me into a classroom was apparently his idea of protection from Gwen—"

"About Gwen!" Will suddenly cut in with a sense of urgency. "You guys are not going to believe this—Gwen is—"

"Royal Pain's daughter." Warren interrupted.

Will nodded his head. "Yeah, and she-"

"Stole the Pacifier." Layla cut in, basically eliminating any explanation on Will's part.

"And she turned everyone into babies, including your parents." Ethan concluded.

At that, Will and I instantly averted our attention to Ethan.

"Alright, that I didn't know." Will said.

"Me either. What happened to my parents?" I asked, worry lacing my voice.

Everyone glanced at one another before Layla answered me. "Royal Pain…er…Gwen, actually, asked your parents to join forces with her and to help her in exchange for not being pacified."

My eyebrows creased as I was seriously hoping that my parents' heroic side was not tainted. "And, please tell me they…they didn't…."

Layla slowly shook her head. "No, they didn't…But in turn…" She trailed off as she didn't have to tell me what happened next after my parents rejected Gwen's offer.

"They've been turned into babies. Fantastic." I sighed dejectedly. But then I felt a rise of aggravation and anger come out of me and I suddenly looked at Will and forcefully socked him in the shoulder.

"Ah! Ow! What the-Lexi!" Will yelped.

I glared and started to rant at him. "That's what you get Will Stronghold for not listening to me! I told you to watch out for Gwen! Now look what your, crazy girlfriend did!"

Will had an offended look on his face as he rubbed the sore spot on his shoulder. "What? When did you tell me that, Lexi? You've hardly spoken to me at all!"

"Ok, maybe I haven't but the last two times we had a conversation I recall telling you to be careful around Gwen!"

Will looked like he was remembering those two instances, before replying to me in his defense, "Lexi, no offense. You weren't exactly very clear with your words."

I opened my mouth to retort but found that I couldn't and ended up resorting to pressing my lips tightly together, knowing that my natural enigmatic nature didn't exactly do what I had hoped it would.

"Yeah, no one gets you when you go Cryptic Confucius, Lexi." Layla added, earning a light glare from me.

"It was implied." I grumbled.

"Ok, guys can we do this a little later? I think we have bigger things to worry about. Like, what are we going to do about Gwen." Zach said, throwing a wrench in the middle of our little friendship squabble that would most likely go dormant until someone brought it up later….which it will, that I can assure you.

"This is more than the great Stronghold can handle." Magenta stated the thing we didn't want to admit.

"She's right." Will said, sounding like he was carefully choosing his fights this time. "It's going to take all of us."

"All of who, exactly? You and Warren? The rest of us are just sidekicks." Magenta said, making me think that from now on, she'll be the proclaimer of all mood-dampers in our conversations, even in dire ones such as these.

But Will picked this time to start looking towards positivity. "Just because you have powers…that doesn't make you a hero." He admitted, sounding almost pained at his words.

Will turned to Layla and I next, well, specifically Layla. "Sometimes…it just makes you a jerk."

I was ready to shout for joy at the long over-due apology coming our way. Sure, it was…awkward in its wording and timing and place, but at least he's making it, right?

"It...it makes me a jerk." Willy finally confessed, looking at Layla and me, shamefacedly.

"Well, you hit that nail right on the head." I mumbled, earning me a silencing look from Layla, who, in my opinion, had already jumped at forgiving him the minute he helped them out of the air vent.

Will accepted my small jibe and started on a clearer version of what we all knew he meant. "I-I guess what I am trying to say is—"

"We get it. You've been a jerk." Layla said, deciding to be merciful and gave him a forgiving smile, that I soon followed with my own smile of the same nature.

There was a small, pleasant feeling that passed over us as the three of us wrapped each other up in a much needed trio hug. When we pulled apart, I found that Will didn't seem quite finished with what he had to say, and from the direction I found him looking him in, I realized I wasn't needed in this little upcoming exchange. I took a step back beside Warren as Will grabbed Layla's attention again.

"And Layla, in case my former homecoming date ends up killing me tonight, I just want you to know…"

Next thing any of us knew, Will had Layla by the waist and was pressing a very confident kiss on Layla's lips.

"Finally! Took you long enough!" I exclaimed loudly, flinging my arms upwards in exasperation.

"Thank God." Warren said lowly from beside me.

At our two side comments, Ethan, Zach and Magenta gave us questioning looks, accompanied by arched eyebrows.

I pointed to my two, currently making out, best friends and explained, "Too many years did I sit back or get stuck in between these two's building tension and obvious attraction. I am allowed to cheer for this."

Unfortunately my moment for cheering never came, as a sickly sweet voice broke into our discussion, reminding us that we were still in the hallway of our school that has turned into somewhat of a battlefield in the last half hour or so.

"Oh, how sweet…"

All seven of us turned around, by this time Will and Layla had put their make out session on hold, and opting for wrapping their arms around each others' waists protectively. Across from us, at the other end of the hallway, stood, who I can name as Gwen's henchmen, Penny, Speed, and to my great disappointment Lash. But to be honest, he didn't look too pleased to be there.

"I hate sweet." Penny spat out, making me turn my attention back to her.

We all visibly tensed at the sight of our tormentors, for me, my homecoming date which just makes this whole arrangement a bit more uncomfortable to me. I couldn't look at Lash as my confusion and mixture of emotions over everything is surpassing any good thought I could have of him at this moment. So I purposely directed my narrowed eyes at Penny and Speed, even if they weren't the most pleasant things in the world to have in your view.

"You guys are a part of this too?" Will said. "Why am I not surprised?"

_I second you on that one, Will._ I thought to myself, as everything from this past week started to tie together.

I heard a crack of knuckles beside me and knew that Warren was readying himself for a fight. He leaned over to Will.

"Go take care of Gwen. We can handle these clowns." Warren said, zeroing in on the speedster in particular.

I tightly pressed my lips together and nodded my head, as I also recognized the imminence of the fight that has just been waiting to happen all semester.

Will, after being convinced by Layla that we did have it under control (we hoped), turned to the nearest wall and ran straight through it, creating his own shortcut to the gym, without having to run through the hallways. I guess he figured the schools already been damaged enough, and they wouldn't mind a few more holes.

When Will was out of the way, Magenta and Zach had climbed back into vents, in hopes of finding another solution and we were alright with that. We returned our attention to our opponents, who had slowly begun their approach. Penny immediately multiplied herself and went after Layla. Speed was laughing menacingly as he veered towards Warren, seeming to avoid me altogether.

This left Ethan and I with…Lash.

I finally forced myself to look my homecoming date who had somewhat gone to the dark side, as he sauntered down the hallway towards Ethan and I, waving his hands around like he was loosening his arms up for use. I sucked in a deep breath, knowing what this has come too and realized I couldn't do much but fight back, before grabbing onto Ethan's hand.

"Come on, let's move…" I told him in an urgent whisper before turning on my heel and running down the hall, pulling Ethan behind me in my attempt to take the fight somewhere else because from the looks of things, I think Warren was going to need a lot of space.

Behind us, I heard the very distinct sound of Lash's converse squeaking on the linoleum floors of the hallways as he loped after us, using his elasticity to make up for our speed and distance. I made another sharp turn into an empty hallway, sliding on my feet to slow down a bit before I made Ethan stumble anymore than he already was. We were halfway down the hallway, when I felt Ethan be wrenched away from me. I turned around just in time to see that Lash had Ethan by the front of his jacket and was winding up his arm back to land a punch on Ethan's frightened face.

"Oh no you don't." I grumbled, and threw my hand out and a transparent dome materialized around Ethan just as Lash sent his fist flying.

Lash yelped, much like a little girl, when his fist smashed into the solid wall of my force field and yanked his hand back to nurse it, releasing Ethan at the same time. Lash turned his eyes on me, his expression a mixture of pain from his hurt hand and questioning.

"I'm not going to say you didn't deserve that one." I said, discreetly nodding my head at Ethan, who quickly understood my silent message that I'd take it from here, and melted down into a puddle and slid away.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going Popsicle! I'm not finished!" Lash shouted, noticing Ethan's puddle disappearing around the corner. I threw up a thick force field to block him from leaving and going after Ethan.

"No, Lash. You are finished with him. If you are going to fight someone, fight me." I told him bluntly, though it hurt me having to have arrived at this point with Lash, especially looking back on everything we had somehow developed on.

I pulled myself out of my thoughts and looked straight at Lash, finding myself rather surprised at how he appeared. He looked…taken back and conflicted. His fists were unclenched at his sides and his shoulders sagged.

"Lexi…Lexi, I'm not going to fight you." He said quietly.

"Well, you sure as hell aren't going after my friends, so I'm your best option."

He sighed and used both of his hands to comb through his hair. "Lexi—"

My emotions blew its fuse and I released a bright crack of blue electricity down the hallway. Lash jumped away in time, despite the fact he knew my powers could do nothing but tickle him.

"Lexi! Please, let me—"

"Explain! Oh, please! I would love to hear your reasonable explanation behind your shady attitude all week and shoving me into a classroom while Gwen turns our school into a nursery!" I shouted, the lights starting to flicker out of control.

Lash took one look at the lights and started towards me, his hands out in front of him in defense. But as soon as he came to stand in front of me, I threw up another transparent protective wall.

"Lexi, put down the force field." Lash asked calmly, knocking on the wall with his knuckles.

"Explanation first, before I put a force field inside you and expand it until you burst." I threatened, though it was an empty one as my emotions were the ones speaking and blubbering at the moment.

Lash looked truly scared for a moment before saying, "Lexi, I am trying to explain, if you would just let me."

My eyes hardened suspiciously at him for a second, my nostrils and temper still flaring. But slowly and surely, my hand relaxed at my side and the force field slowly flickered away. Lash hesitantly took a step closer to me.

"Look, I-I know your upset and confused—"

"Understatement." I cut in.

"Yes…yes I know. But I had to do what I did to keep you from being pacified." He said, sounding insistent.

"Like my parents were?" I asked, quietly.

Lash gulped and looked to the ground, slowly nodding his head. "It wasn't supposed to be like that. Gwen…er…Royal Pain was sure that your parents would join her because your dad was like friends with her mom back in high school."

"She was wrong."

"Exactly. Now she's pissed off and gunning, not just for Stronghold, but for you too."

That made me shudder. Never have I been gunned for before.

"I feel honored." I sarcastically deadpanned.

"Well, you shouldn't. And it's not over yet, so come with me and I'll get us out of here safely." Lash said, his words rushing together while he grabbed my hand and tried to pull me down the hallway, but I planted my feet and refused to move.

"Woah, what do you mean it's not over yet? Lash, I can't just leave. My friends are still here fighting your friends and my parents are still babies. I can't walk away."

Lash started to become fidgety again and his hold tightened on my hands. "Lexi, please, just come with me. We only have a few minutes left." Lash pleaded, pulling on my hands again.

I yanked my hands away. "A few minutes left till what, Lash? What aren't you telling me?"

Lash looked around restlessly before pulling me close to him as he finally blurted out, "Gwen sabotaged the school's anti-gravity device. This entire school is going to fall out of the sky in the next fifteen minutes."

It took me a moment to gather my mind and wrap itself around that piece of information. For a moment, I thought Lash was joking, but when I finally realized that this was anything but, I reached out and roughly slapped Lash on the arm.

He yelped and recoiled.

"What possessed you to withhold that piece of information? It's not exactly a minor detail!" I shouted at him, before pinching my nose bridge in an attempt to contain myself. "Never mind. We have got to figure out a way to stop this."

And before he could protest anymore, I pulled him down the hallway and back to the hallway where we found my friends already re-commenced. I was glad to see that Layla survived a fight with Penny and would have to hear how that went later, and wasn't surprised when I saw Speed's backside sticking out of a crevice in the wall on fire.

"Guys!" I called to them, still dragging Lash on behind me.

They all turned and looked at me, tensing up at the sight of Lash, Warren's fists starting to burn up again.

"Woah! Chill, everyone, chill. Lash is alright…somewhat." I said, earning a sidelong glance from Lash that I ignored. "But we've got bigger problems."

"I know. Gwen sabotaged the anti-gravity device and the school is going to fall out of the sky." Layla said.

"Exactly. Now, I assume that none of us want to plummet to our death in the next nine minutes or so, so anyone got any ideas?"

Ethan raised his hand. "We need to find a schematic of the school and maybe we can find where the device is and try to disarm it."

"And where exactly are we going to find a schematic of the school?" Warren asked.

"I have one in my locker." Lash piped in, earning some arched eyebrows but none of us were really surprised.

"Then why are you still standing here? Go get it!" I told him, turning him around by the shoulders and pushing him in whatever direction his locker was. Lash ran off and but a few seconds later he returned, carrying a blue, rolled up paper in his hand.

"Here!" He handed the map to us.

We crouched on the ground and Layla spread out the schematic. "Ok, the anti-gravity room is right here." She said, pointing to a room on the map that seemed to have many possible entrances.

"But Royal Pain had us seal off every route." Lash warned us, squashing that short moment of optimism.

"What about this conduit?" Ethan looked back at the map and pointed out another line, a smaller, almost invisible, line that I would have missed if Ethan hadn't pointed it out.

"Right." Zach said, sounding skeptical of the possibility. "You'd have to be like a rat to fit in there."

That truth put a bigger damper on the situation, but as quick as that damper hit, our internal light bulbs went off at the word 'rat'. Heads quickly whipped up and turned towards Magenta, who slowly looked up to meet each of our knowing gazes.

Perhaps we didn't need a rat, but maybe just a guinea pig.

"Oh, great." Magenta deadpanned and rolled her eyes.

But it didn't even take much convincing to get her to shape shift into her guinea pig and Zach and Ethan took her to the conduit route to lead her to where the anti-gravity generator was located. In the short meantime we had left, Layla, Warren, Lash, and I detoured back to the gym, where it seems Will and Royal Pain had taken the fight.

We arrived at the gym in time to see what the aftermath had become. The gym itself already a tell-tale illustration of the fight that had just past, and let me tell you, it looked messy.

"Will! No!" Layla and I shouted in unison, worry and urgency lacing our voices just as we witnessed Will being flung out the window by Royal Pain.

Royal Pain whipped around to face us as a distorted, deeper, mechanical voice rang out to us in sneering laughter. "There goes your last chance of stopping me."

"Not yet, you psychotic science freak." I growled, stepping forward and leaving Lash's side. I was flat-out pissed off, even more than I was before, and I wasn't the only one who could tell. The lights in the gym had started to fluctuate and everyone knew well-enough what that meant.

"Ah, so glad you could join me Lexi. Oh! And you brought the loser brigade!" The mask of Royal Pain retracted to reveal the face of Gwen Grayson. "Such a shame what happened to your parents, though I hope they change their minds, I mean, they have another whole lifetime to think about it." She laughed.

My jaw clenched angrily and I bit back a string of unladylike curses that would surely land me in detention, as I waited for Gwen to stop laughing. When she did, though, she continued on with a spiel perfect for any super villain.

"But, I must consider the fact that you, Lexi, are perhaps much smarter than your parents. You see, you seem like a very smart and talented girl, who like me, was spurned into Sidekick class. And like me, you have so much potential to be great…as a Super Villain." She spoke the last word with so much emphasis that it made me flinch.

She saw this and took advantage. "Do what your parents didn't and join me. What do you say, Lexi?"

I took a deep breath and turned to glance at my friends. Layla looked hurt and worried, playing her role as best friend. Warren looked stoic as usual, but there was glint in his eye that told me that this wasn't the right way. Lastly, Lash looked genuinely frightened, like he would be scared of me if I did become a villain. But in a general picture, they were all silently pleading for me to make the right choice.

"I say…" I started and looked up to meet her eyes, which were almost smirking in anticipation. "I say you are crazier than I originally thought if you think for one second I'd become a villain, you belong in a straight-jacket."

There was an audible sigh and even a giggle from behind me.

But up front, Gwen lost that smirk of anticipation and became a threatening look as she spoke again, with a creepy calmness in her voice. "Very well, then. Be just like your parents."

And before I could fully realize what was about to happen, Royal Pain's helmet returned to its original position and she lifted her arms, aiming a long, yellow current of electricity squarely at me. Behind me, I heard frantic shouts of warning, Lash's voice sticking out to me the most and strangely being the voice that snapped me right back into action. My eyes widened just as Royal Pain's electric bolt approached me and I instantly raised my arms in return, sending out my own stream of bright blue bolts in defense. The currents met and my own shoved Royal Pain's back a good few feet, even making Royal Pain slide backwards as she held on from the sudden amount of force. On my side, the opposing force was growing and I could only do so much as to brace myself and exert myself more…more than I ever had to before. All around us lights were bursting and exploding and I faltered in my power as my feet were starting to lose its grip and slide backwards. That was clearly seen in the stream of blue and yellow in the middle of the gym as my light started to recoil. But I wasn't about to let this go too easily. I suddenly gave another internal and physical shove and Royal Pain happened to do the same. The bolts and currents weaved together and the amount of force from either side could no longer be contained. Suddenly, the currents burst together and there was and blinding explosion that threw me backwards into the air.

Lash, as I was sure in my dazed condition, caught me, his arms wrapping around me tightly as he softened my fall. My head throbbed and I felt something running down my upper lip. I felt Lash swipe one of his fingers underneath my nose.

"Lexi….you're bleeding!" Lash said, showing me his finger tinted red.

I quickly reached up with my own hand and wiped away what was left of the blood, thinking it to be a repercussion of having exerted so much of myself. I carefully sat up with Lash's arms still around me and looked to the other side of the gym where I found Royal Pain still standing.

"Ha! No one can defeat Royal Pain!" The mechanical voice echoed with another laugh.

"We'll see about that!" A familiar voice shouted out.

Outside the broken window that Royal Pain had chucked our best friend out of, was Will himself, unharmed, undamaged, and literally, floating….or flying is more like it. The four of us were shell-shocked and amazed, while Royal Pain seemed positively shocked and angered.

"Surprised?" Will asked, still hovering up in the air. "So am I!"

Will leaned forward and flew into the gym, heading straight for Royal Pain.

"You're flying? That's impossible!" She shouted before Will swopped into her, carrying her by her underarms up toward the ceiling of the gym, before dropping her right back down.

We all cringed as she hit the gym floor, creating a huge crater in the middle of the gym. I didn't think it killed her, but it didn't seem like she was moving at all after that drop. Will wasn't going to take any chances with her though, so he flew back down to the ground, wound up his arm for a punch and smashed the helmet right off Royal Pain's head. Gwen's head lolled out, eyes shut and unconscious.

It was over…at least it seemed like it was.

Will stood up and ran over to us, embracing Layla tightly to him. He turned to me next and gave me a quick side hug. Will pulled away and acknowledged the rest of our group, giving a handshake to Warren but a cautious look to Lash to which I only shook my head and waved off his silent questions.

"Where's Ethan, Magenta and Zach?" He asked.

That's when we all were immediately reminded of one more existing complication.

"Royal Pain incapacitated the anti-gravity—"

No sooner than when I tried to explain, did the floor of the school suddenly jolt and the heavy sensation of falling and panic overtook each of us. We all dropped down to the floor, attempting to brace ourselves as the air rushed around us and the school started to drop faster and faster as gravity took its toll.

"What's going on?" Will shouted, despite the situation being very obvious.

"The school is falling!" Layla replied, grabbing onto Will's hand.

"Yes! Thank you for reminding me that we are plummeting to our deaths!" I shouted at the two of them, my panic and terror at sudden death taking over. I ducked my head down, not wanting to look at the sky fly by as the school continued to fall and silently prayed that Ethan, Magenta and Zach were doing something…anything. I felt someone grab my hand and I looked to my side to see that Lash had taken a hold of my hand. He pulled me over to him and placed his arm around me protectively as we fell faster and faster.

"Hold on! I've got an idea!" Will shouted to all of us.

He struggled to stand up as the force was acting against him and he stumbled a bit as he ran towards the broken window and swiftly took flight. None of us were sure what he was doing exactly, but it did give us a glimmer of hope.

And like an answer to our prayers, the school suddenly felt like it was slowing down, and I chanced a glance out the window to find that I could see the tops of the houses in our neighborhood. All of a sudden, the school was flying right back up into the sky and when it returned to its original position high up in the sky, it started to hover safely again.

Needless to say, there was a jointed and unified sigh of much needed relief that crossed over us as we sat up to gather ourselves again.

Will soon flew back into the gym and looked at us.

"We did it."

**So, I seriously hope that that was good enough for all of you and somewhat followed a good amount of the actual plot with my own revisions and insertions. My scientific facts are simply basic stuff that I somehow internalized in from 10****th**** grade Chem and the internet so forgive me if its not quite accurate. But, nonetheless, I am quite proud of this and hope that you enjoyed! Though I must remind you that this isn't the last chapter, but it is the most epic chapter…lol Reviews are loved and appreciated!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey, guys! The previous chapter, like I had mentioned, was not the last chapter. Obviously. This is possibly the last chapter—remember I said possibly—so look to the author's note for anymore details concerning this story. Thank you to you all for your incredible amount of support for this story. It's incredible to think that I had only written this to get it out of my system and it became a full-fledged story. I hope and pray that you enjoyed reading just as much as I enjoyed writing it. So without further ado, I do not own Sky High or any of its affiliates!**

**Enjoy!**

Chapter 17:

Despite the fact that we had successfully defeated Royal Pain and kept the school from crashing to earth, we were still left with a small problem: a bus full of babies-heroically retrieved by yours-truly, Ron Wilson-Bus Driver.

And we were only eight, rather inexperienced high school students. Seven of which were freshmen to say the least.

"Now what?" Lash asked, scratching his head as we stood on the grass in the front of the school surveying the many baby carriages lined up around us, each of the babies peering happily at us. It would have been cute to me, if I didn't know for a fact that some of these babies were my teachers and parents and had the circumstances of which these babies were created had not been so unpleasant.

In response to Lash's question, none of us had any clear idea of what to do. The Pacifier wasn't our invention and as far as our freshmen Mad Science knowledge goes along with the fact that Lash admits he never pays attention in class, we were fresh out of luck in any possible ideas and our internal light bulbs had officially burned out for the night.

"Beats me." Will sighed, looking about him at the drooling babies.

"Perhaps I can be of assistance." A newer yet vaguely familiar voice chimed in, ringing us all out of our mindless fishing for helpful suggestions.

We turned toward the voice, finding it be coming from the baby carriage Warren was currently holding. In the small seat, sat a baby that was everything a baby should be, aside from the easily recognizable head of Mr. Medulla, still as bulbous as his baby-like body can handle and carry.

"It should only take me a few hours to reconfigure the Pacifier," Mr. Medulla explained in his younger voice, seeming oblivious of the weird looks we were currently giving him. But it soon became clear that we shouldn't care what part of the life cycle Mr. Medulla was in, so long as his brainpower remained at the same level as to help us. "Mr. Peace, would you please carry me to the Mad Science Lab?"

"Sure." Warren said, looking down at the baby as Mr. Medulla made another request.

"And Mr. Peace?"

"Yeah?"

"Regrettably, I have also made boom-boom." Mr. Medulla confessed with an impish smile.

And considering what his choice words and following expression implied, those of us not holding the baby carriage took one huge step backwards, as to say that none of us were offering up our help in changing a, as baby Medulla says, 'boom-boom' soiled diaper.

Warren lightly glared at us for leaving him with diaper duty, but nonetheless took Mr. Medulla up to his classroom. Now that we had a way of returning the babies to their un-Pacified nature, we figured it be best to get all the babies back inside. So one by one, the babies were taken inside and lined up outside of the Mad Science Lab, where Mr. Medulla worked his magic. Under two hours later, the Pacifier had been re-configured and Mr. Medulla returned himself to his original adult body. He de-Pacified the Sky High staff and adults first, starting with Principal Powers, so they could start safely re-direction people.

"People! If you have already been de-Pacified, please find your clothes and return to the gym!" Principal Power directed people as they entered the Mad Science lab as babies but left in their full-grown form, donning blankets to cover their almost nude forms.

The eight of us stood back in case we were needed again, but really Will and I were waiting for our parents to be de-Pacified and I wasn't in the mood of leaving Lash by himself. It went without saying what we were all convinced was going to happen to Lash. No matter the fact that he sort of assisted us at the end of the day and took a hesitant step to the good side, he was still mostly involved with this 'heinous' crime. He, himself, even admitted that he'd have to face the punishment when it came.

And it did come…right now.

"Mr. Livingston." The stern voice of Principal Powers came from behind us.

Lash sighed and I took his hand, comfortingly, as he turned around to face his punishment.

Principal Powers stood there with an arched eyebrow, her heeled foot tapping quickly as she stared Lash down with a look that could only be read as disappointment.

"Principal Powers." Lash acknowledged, looking down at the ground shamefully. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"Heaps of it, young man. Your 'friends' were quick to spout your name as an accomplice and I am sad to say that I am not very surprised at your involvement with this plan. What possessed you to think that destroying Sky High was alright?"

"I don't know, ma'am. But I know that I can't apologize to make up for it."

"You're right about that one Mr. Livingston. Apologies will not make up for this offense. So, if you would kindly follow me, the beginning of your punishment will be dealt with starting tonight." Principal Powers urged Lash forward by the small flick of her finger and started down the hallway in the direction I believed was the Detention Room. I tried to speak up, to attempt to lighten Lash's punishment, if not lift it since that seemed highly unlikely. But I didn't.

"Mr. Livingston? Now," Principal Powers said, realizing that Lash was still standing beside me.

Lash released a despondent sigh and pulled me to him to kiss me on the cheek. He squeezed my hand tightly once more for reassurance and comfort before he let go and followed Principal Powers to the Detention Room.

I looked after them, now downhearted and saddened to be without Lash, even more so knowing that Lash had found some goodness in him tonight, but was still suffering a punishment. But what else did expect. The world doesn't always use a few good deeds to account for a crap load of not so good deeds.

"Lexi, he's going to be alright." Layla said, trying to bring me assurance as she patted my shoulder. "Besides, your parents have been de-Pacified."

At that, I was able to quickly brighten up and let optimism ring in around me. Behind me, I could hear the faint voices of the Strongholds, obviously de-Pacified as well, in conversation with my parents. I turned around and walked over to where our friends were standing behind our parents, who, at the moment, were trying to straighten out their super hero outfits.

"Mom? Dad?" Will started, trying to grab their attention.

"Guys?" I added, successfully gaining their attention.

Our parents instantly tackled us in tight embraces, seeming overjoyed that we were ok despite the fact that they were the ones who were just turned into babies by a high school student.

"Oh, honey! Thank God you are alright!" My mom said, while she and my dad twisted me here and there literally checking every inch of me for any damages.

I suddenly stilled their efforts. "I'm perfectly ok. But I should really be asking you two if you're alright. I mean, how was being a baby again?"

"It was fine, though, I could have done without the general infant nudeness." My dad said, making my mom and I laugh before Will asked for our attention.

"Look, Mr. and Mrs. Storm, mom and dad, I just want to say I am sorry because this whole thing was my fault." Will flat out said.

I looked at him utterly taken back at his apology. Not that I believed he was faultless in this whole situation, but I don't believe that he needed to take all the blame. How was he to know the extent of tonight's near-disaster and tragedy?

"Honey, you can't blame yourself." Mrs. Stronghold said, laying a hand on Will's shoulder.

"Yes, Will. What happened tonight was not your fault." My mom added.

"Exactly, Will. How were you to know that your girlfriend was a psychopath?" Mr. Stronghold asked.

Will rolled his eyes, as he had heard those adjectives associated with Gwen before. He glanced to me and I arched my eyebrows to give him an 'I-told-you-I'm-not-the-only-one-who-thought-so' look.

"No, it's not that she's a psycho…I mean, that's true….But it's the fact that you gave me one rule, and I broke it." Will admitted.

He looked up and found that his parents, as well as all of us, were waiting for him to elaborate more on this rule that he had broken.

"I-I took her into the inner sanctum."

There was a unified gasp, as we couldn't hide our shock at this. Every superhero family had one rule for their children and that was to never show anyone the inner sanctum, unless otherwise told. It sometimes even went without saying.

"I know, I know and I'm sorry. But that's how she got the Pacifier. The whole party she threw at our house was trap." He said, sounding extremely ashamed of his own naivety.

"And this homecoming dance was also trap, Will." My dad noted.

"We all fell into the Royal Pain's trap, but you and Lexi defeated her." Mr. Stronghold said, shedding a proud smile on both of us.

"Yes, you saved Sky High and everyone in her." Mrs. Stronghold added.

Will and I smiled appreciatively at the acknowledgment, but both of us knew that we could never take all of the credit. After all, I don't think we could have defeated Gwen at all if it were just the two of us.

"Well, you see it wasn't just us." Will explained, looking back at our friends.

"We didn't do it by ourselves." I turned around and squeezed in between Magenta and Ethan, throwing my arms over their shoulders.

Our parents seemed to have understood the message and grinned at our line of friends. They looked as though they were about to congratulate and recognize them, possibly further spurning their previous opinions about sidekicks, but Mr. Boy, who had also been successfully de-Pacified, walked over to us, two trophies in his hands.

"Excuse me. Steve, Josie, Daniel, and Susan? Even though it seems that Gwen only created these award as a means to lure you all to the dance…and your potential doom, they're still inscribed, so…"

He thrust the awards in our parents' direction and our parents slowly accepted them. They turned them around and around in their hands, reading the inscription on the little gold plate at the base of the trophy.

"We'd be honored to accept to accept these 'Heroes of the Year' awards." My dad said, then glanced at my mom, who took their trophy in her hands.

"But, I'm afraid these don't belong to us." She said, then passing a glance to Mrs. Stronghold.

"These belong to them." She stated. The four, world's greatest heroes turned to us, the five sidekicks and two heroes, holding the trophies out to us.

"The sidekicks. I mean, Hero Support." Mr. Stronghold said, correcting himself when he looked at Mr. Boy, his own former sidekick.

Mr. Stronghold placed their trophy in Ethan's hands and my parents gave me theirs. We brought them together in the center of our little semi-circle and we all reached out to touch our trophies, proudly. Warren and Will hung back, thinking they weren't part of the people allowed to touch it, but we squashed that idea and yanked them over to place their hands or fingers on the trophy wherever there was empty space.

"Why don't we just call them what they really are, Steve?" My dad asked, as they looked on at us with pleasant and proud smiles.

Mr. Stronghold nodded in agreement.

"Heroes."

If we could smile any bigger then we currently were, we would. Finally being recognized for what we really were gave us a greater sense of pride than ever before. And Layla had an even bigger reason to be happy because now the sensitive hierarchy of our school has been toppled; she's probably secretly rubbing this in Coach Boomer's face right now.

And speaking of Coach Boomer…

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

Coach Boomer, who seemed to have just returned from retrieving his clothes from the gym, stood behind my parents, shifting back and forth on his feet, an uncharacteristically apologetic look on his face as he cleared his throat rather deliberately and loudly.

My parents turned to face Coach Boomer, my dad instantly tensing and straightening up at the sight of his old school bully. He gathered me and my mom to his side, possessively draping his arms on both of us before he spoke.

"Boomer."

"Storm." Boomer reiterated, though in less defensive tone than my dad.

"What can we do for you, Boomer?" My mom asked, stiffly.

Boomer's jaw tensed and he pursed his lips as he looked at the family in front of him. Two of us are the some of the World's Greatest Heroes. One of us he despises, another one of us he wishes he still had, and the last of us, is the off spring of both. It's like the downsides of his life wrapped in a little family package.

"I would like to…apologize to Lexi and both of you for treating you all….unfairly. I was wrong and I am now aware that my judgment was undeserved. So I apologize to Lexi for that. Also, I also owe thanks to the sidekicks…er…Hero Support, for without them…I'd still be a baby." Boomer ground out, slowly but surely, his hands wringing themselves into fists. This obviously pained him to say and we all could see it.

My parents seemed more than pleased, which is nothing short of how much my friends were enjoying this at the moment as they were currently smirking and basking in the moment that would most likely not happen again very soon. The circumstances of tonight have proven themselves more positive and advantageous than most, as you can see.

"And, in addition to that, I can reconsider all of you for placement and let you move up to Hero Class." Boomer said, ignoring the looks enjoyment we were wearing.

But the news of the opportunity to move up a class silenced our snickering and made us stop and almost consider it. We looked at one another, looking for each other's opinions, before Ethan piped up.

"Are you for real?"

"Yes, we are." The voice of Principal Powers said as she approached us from behind Boomer. "By unanimous decision of the school faculty, we believe that you all deserve to be moved up a class. What do you all say?"

A mutual, knowing look was traded among us and words were no longer needed for us to come to an agreement about this. They looked to me as the one to answer.

"As nice as that is for you to offer, Principal Powers, I think we're all happy right where we are right now." I said, hugging my friends close to my side to emphasize my point and giving Mr. Boy a reassuring wink. "Hero class or no hero class, we're all still taught the same basic lesson: to save the world and being in Hero Support, is our way of doing it. So thank you, but no." I told her politely.

Surprisingly, Principal Powers didn't seem fazed or surprised at our decision, which is much more than we can say about Boomer whose face became much like a dried fish gasping for air. As a matter of fact, the smile Principal Powers wore seemed to only grow wider.

"Spoken like true heroes." Principal Powers commented proudly, before walking away, a still dumbfounded Boomer following on her trail.

Our parents turned to us. "Well, that was refreshing, don't you think?"

"I think I've had enough for one night." My dad said, yawning and stretching. "We'll see you at home, sweetheart." Both of my parents leaned over and kissed me on my cheeks.

Will's parents did the same and were soon standing beside my parents. They waved at us and started to walk away, but Mr. Stronghold stopped short and turned around once more to direct one more comment at Mr. Boy.

"Oh! And Jonathon," Mr. Boy perked up and brightened at the fact that Mr. Stronghold did in fact remember him enough call him by his first name. "Whatever you are teaching these kids…keep teaching them."

Mr. Boy seemed positively thrilled at the recognition. For him, I could only assume it was like the perfect teacher's dream: having students whom he taught so well, that they were able to save a school and defeat a super villain, and being recognized for his work. And only to add to his already flustered and completely honored state of mind, Mrs. Stronghold and my mom went over to him and smoothly pecked him on both of his cheeks. His knees buckled and he all but collapsed on the floor from an overflow of excitement. Luckily Ethan and Zach were there to help him up.

Our parents sent us one more of their warm smiles and extra waves before their four figures were disappearing down the hallway, giving the ground their ever-so honorable and confident stepping trails.

"Tonight was something, wasn't it?" I asked out loud, as soon as Mr. Boy left us after he gathered his wits about himself.

"Yeah, we're heroes. We're actually heroes." Ethan breathed, both disbelievingly and excitedly.

Layla smiled. "We always have been. People just…finally know it."

"And you know what I think we should do now?" Zach asked.

We all looked at him. "What?"

"Finish the dance!"

We all were elated to agree that we were well-deserving of some light hearted enjoyment, even tom foolery if time allowed it, after everything we had done tonight. Not as an obligation, but rather just the fact that we want throw all this seriousness off our shoulders and just have fun for awhile. After all, this was supposed to be homecoming.

So with that intention in mind, we went to the gym, which seemed to have had some rapid clean-up since the fight, where everyone was gathering as soon as the de-Pacifying process was coming to grand finish. Mr. Medulla was standing at the podium and he soon called for everyone's attention.

"I have successfully de-Pacified all the babies, and destroyed that horrible weapon forever." He announced, earning loud cheers all across the gym.

Mr. Medulla smiled, not one of his creepy Mad Scientist smiles, but an actual smile before he spoke again into the microphone. "Let's boogie!"

At that, the gym lights dimmed and the disco and colorful spotlights were turned on. The DJ flicked on the music, blasting it to its top level, and immediately the gym floor became a dance floor as everyone took the floor to happily dance away the remnants of earlier.

I stood back as I watched my friends take part of the festivities. Will and Layla disappeared through the crowd and I had not found any reason to look for them. Ethan had been approached by a shy, but sweet girl that was in our Mad Science class and had apparently been eyeing him for awhile now, so those two were dancing the night away at the moment. To my right, Magenta and Zach watched the dance floor, feigning boredom and I could hear the bits of their conversation.

"It's so sweet I could hurl." Zach said to Magenta, trying to sound as indifferent as her.

"I know, right." Magenta agreed.

A few minutes later…

"Do you wanna dance?" Magenta asked.

"Yes." Zach eagerly answered, before he realized himself and made a calmer, cooler response. "I mean, yeah…yeah, sure."

And soon those two were hand in hand and dancing to the beat of the music.

"Wow, took those two long enough." Warren said from my other side.

I smiled at all the pairings sparking within my friends. "If you haven't noticed, that tends to be a trend around us." I laughed.

"Valid point." He said.

We went silent for a bit and continued to keep an observant eye around the dance floor. In the corner of my eye, I saw a pretty blonde haired girl in a light blue dress that I recognized as the girl who had frozen those boys on the first day of school, staring at Warren from across the gym, but he seemed to not have noticed at all. I smirked a bit to myself before leaning over to him.

"I think you should ask Freeze Girl over there to dance." I told him, subtly nodding my head in the girl's direction.

I was surprised when I caught a small flush hit his cheeks. "I don't dance." He grumbled, looking at the floor.

"And you didn't want to make friends, yet look at where you are." I countered, knowing he couldn't argue with me there.

Warren actually looked nervously at Freeze Girl and straightened up, and I was instantly reminded that no matter how much powers we have, we were all still teenagers to the core. I made way for Warren to cross the gym to Freeze Girl and he made movement to do so, but suddenly hesitated.

"Wait, as gentlemanly as it is for me to go ask her to dance, it would make me a terrible 'friend' if I left you here by yourself." Warren said.

It was then I remembered that when Warren went off to pair off with Freeze Girl, I would be the lone single of the group now. Don't misunderstand, I was beyond ecstatic for my friends and of course wished the best for them and their relationships. But now, I was the only one without a significant other to dance the night away with, seeing as he was currently locked in the Detention Room for the rest of the dance. But then again…I could always…

I smiled to myself.

I quickly turned to Warren. "And as nice as that is Warren. I think I'll be fine. Go ask her."

"You sure?" He asked.

I nodded my head assuredly as my sly thoughts were formulating in my head. "Yeah, I've got an idea actually. So I'll be right back. Have fun though!" I assured him, while I walked backwards to the gym doors.

I bit my lip in excitement at what I was about to do as I heard the gym door slam shut behind me. I casually made my way out of the main hallway where some couples were simply conversing and didn't start to run till I reached an empty hallway.

I looked around some more to ensure that the coast was clear, before I carefully crept towards a special looking white door in the middle of the hallway. A plate near the door read to me clearly, "Detention", and I stood on my toes to peer into the room, where I found the whole Royal Pain team sitting wallowing in their own misfortune. But my eyes were only drawn to the striped figure of Lash sitting at the far end of the room. I smirked to myself as I drew away from the door and placed my hand on the key plate to open the door. With a small twitch of electricity, the door immediately slid open and I felt the eyes dart to the door to see who was entering.

Lash sat up in his desk, perking up. "Lexi?"

I smiled mischievously and casually leaned on the door frame of the room, crossing my arms over my chest. "You know, it really sucks to be at homecoming without your homecoming date." I said to him, ignoring the rolled eyes I was getting from the other three in the room.

Lash gave me a crooked grin but it faltered. "But what are you doing here? You could get in a whole lot of trouble."

I shook my head at him, as he was missing the point of me appearing here, and decided to spell it out to him. "Lash, what does it look like I'm doing? I'm breaking you out of here! Besides, you already broke majority of the school rules, what's so bad with a few more?"

Lash looked at his desk, around the room, and then back at me, actually thinking about making a break for it, which I thought was really uncommon for him. I rolled my eyes at him and decided to make this easier for him.

"Lash, come on." I said, sweetly, holding my hand out to him.

Lash gave a last contemplative look around the room, and he finally seemed to have made his decision, instantly signaled by the smile stretching across his face. In the next second, Lash was up and out of his seat, his hand tightly grasped in mine. We stepped out of the Detention Room, paying no mind to the looks that the other detainees were giving us as I touched the key pad again to slide the door shut—wouldn't want any of them escaping would we?

Once we were out in the quiet hallway, he weaved his fingers in between mine and low laughter escaped our lips. I placed a finger over my lips to request silence, so I could safely lead us back to the gym without catching too much attention, after all, it would suck that I broke Lash out of 'high school prison' only to be caught again.

But I spoke a little too soon.

"Miss Storm."

"Damn." I muttered underneath my breath as Principal Powers' voice prevented us from making a free break into the gym.

Our hands tightened together and I slowly turned to face Principal Powers', knowing that there was no way I was going to avoid looking guilty.

"And where do you think you two are going exactly?" She asked, looking pointedly at Lash then at me and it was in that instant I knew that she was assuming Lash had enlisted my help to break him out from Detention, and I couldn't let her believe that, so I immediately spoke up.

"Principal Powers, Lash had nothing to do with this. This was all me," I stated, referring to our current position and continued on before Principal Powers or Lash could say anything, "Yes, I know, Lash…was involved with the plan to destroy Sky High and sure he hasn't been the best student around. But…but he realized it was wrong early on and he did what he could to help us stop Royal Pain in the end. Doesn't that count for something?" I asked, doing what I could to vouch for the boy whom I may have possibly fallen for over the course of everything that has happened.

Principal Powers looked stunned once again, perhaps because just an hour or so ago she was telling me about how I was speaking like a true hero and yet here I was. Her narrowed eyes flickered in from me to Lash, then they dropped to our intertwined hands and she visibly softened, even the edge of her lips quirking up the slightest bit.

"Unfortunately, Miss Storm, it doesn't." She sighed.

I gave an audible sigh and sagged my shoulders.

"However," Principal Powers started again, her tone of voice reinvigorating a glimmer of hope in me. "Technically, the Detention Room should only be in commission during school hours and it was only being used to contain Royal Pain and her team for the night."

Lash and I shared a look. "What does that mean?"

Principal Powers smiled. "It means….that you two can go enjoy the rest of the dance."

Lash and I gasped in surprise that Principal Powers was turning a blind eye and I think Lash and I had to resist the urge to reach out hug Principal Powers. But we couldn't contain ourselves and did it anyways. We thanked her continuously and finally pulled away, ready to get to the gym, but Principal Powers stopped us once more before we did.

"But Mr. Livingston, your punishment does begin on Monday." She reminded him, doing her obligatory role as principal.

But despite her serious words, Lash still smiled and accepted it. Principal Powers gave us one more smile and waved before leaving us, acting as if she had never run into us in the first place. Once she was gone, Lash pulled us into the gym, where the dance floor and party was still filled up to the brim. No one noticed us enter, but I figured that was what we wanted. We situated ourselves near the edges of the dance floor, where it seemed far more private, and Lash immediately wound his arms around my waist and held me close as we started to sway to the music.

"You know, I think I am finally realizing why I love being around you, Lexi." Lash said to me.

I wrapped my hands across the back of his neck, my fingers playing with the ends of his hair. "And your conclusion is?"

Lash sighed and held me closer. "Well, for one thing, you've broken me out of trouble more than once already."

I pulled away immediately and feigned an appalled look. "Oh, and here I was thinking that you actually liked me out of the goodness of your heart."

Lash laughed and adjusted his hold on my waist. "Well, you didn't exactly let me finish. Yes, I do enjoy the fact that you are capable of bailing me out of trouble, but that's not all I enjoy." He said, his voice growing quieter, more personal sounding.

I tilted my head upwards, finding Lash's eyes trained on me. "Like?"

Lash's lowered his head and one of his hands left my waist to softly touch my cheek. "Like your incredible talent of being pretty no matter what." His words were hushed and endearing. I couldn't stop the blush on my cheeks, where he pecked his lips on both, or the shivers coming down the back of my neck, where his hand moved next to cradle it softly.

"Really." I breathed, feeling my insides twist and fixed my hold around Lash's neck so that he was closer to me as he continued to whisper his reasons to me.

"There's also your never-ending wit and brains that makes conversations with you meaningful and memorable." He said, almost chuckling as he pressed a kiss to my forehead to emphasize his point.

I couldn't say anything to that. I mean, he's admitting appreciation to liking my intelligence. I never thought guy would admit such a thing. But I remember that Lash has a knack for proving people wrong, especially me.

"Then there's your massive amount of good will and heroic spirit." He kissed me on the nose then and tilted his forehead down till it was touching mine, his eyes half-lidded and slowly things started to become blurry around us like we weren't even at the dance anymore.

"Then…there are your lips."

I blinked a few times as the words settled in my head, and I had a very good idea of where this was going…and hell to it I wasn't stopping it.

'What about them?" I asked, automatically biting on my lower lip in anticipation.

"The fact that I can do this…"

And with that, his head ducked and his lips were pressed against mine. It was warm and sweet, and I could literally feel him smiling smugly behind the kiss, but I only muffled that by tightening my hold around his neck to bring him closer. In response, his arms twisted an extra amount around me before he lifted me up into the air and spun me around. I never broke that kiss and neither did he.

Why?

Because kissing Lash was worth fighting through psychotic super villains. It's worth 'survival of the fittest' through High School.

And because kissing Lash is like…

Well.

That's for me to know.

_I'll stop the world and melt with you._

_You've seen the difference_

_And it's getting better all the time._

_There's nothing you and I won't do._

_I'll stop the world and melt with you._

**Awesome! So, first off, song credit obviously goes to its rightful owners, Bowling for Soup if we're using the Sky High reference here because I don't remember the name of the original band of the song (my dad will be disappointed). But anyhoots, here is a bit of a proposition: ****if any of you would like me to write some sort of epilogue to this than please feel free to ask for one. If I receive enough support I will most likely write one. ****If not many responses, and you are all happy with this, then there's nothing left for me to say but: Bye, until the next story!:)**


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